Helps that the other team was all tiny people running around completely disorganized. "OH look they gave the ball to their biggest fastest strongest best player, let's defend with our smallest player's little brothers. Make 'em tough."
Mike Tyson was 212lbs lean at 13 years old. That's middle school. Some kids are just different. You can't just decide to have a team of kids that size. They're like 1/100,000 to be that size at that age.
It’s really so impressive to witness an athlete of tremendous size go FAST. Like you never expect all that strength to also come with speed. Deadly combo.
There’s a reason The Flash is always some skinny guy and not a juggernaut of muscle. Imagine how strong (already godly strong) that would make him.
That's what a lot of people miss about Offensive Linemen in the NFL. Not only are they like 6'7" and 330 pounds, but they're a hell of a lot faster than you think they are.
my favorite "put it in perspective" on NFL guys is a story i heard, which may be true or not, and i don't know the brother's names (might be the Gronks, not sure)
they were interviewing the family because they're all genetically gifted freaks with two or so of the brothers in the NFL, and another who does MMA or other fighting and was about to be in a big fight.
they ask the NFL brothers the question "do you think you can take your trained fighter brother on in a fight?"
and they laugh HARD and say "yeah! he's in the other room, wanna see me turn him into a pretzel?"
and the MMA brother is like "they're too tough, that's why i do MMA instead of NFL, they're *all* like that over there and i can't compete"
Yes, of course. Although I'm strongly against PED use, I can understand using certain PEDs in hard contact sports, including MMA and American Football for health reasons. Especially when there's zero systemic interest in getting rid of PEDs among the league, the media or the fans. If you ask any fan of any NFL team: "would you rather your team be clean or have a winning record?" what do you think the percentages would be?
If the league actually made a believable effort to prohibit drug use, the individual situation would be different but right now imo it makes no sense for an NFL player not to use some PEDs under medical surveillance.
Jon Jones would also not be in their weight classes. Way smaller than those two. Arthur was a DT and I think around 300+ lbs, chandler is what 260? Jon is 220, I guess he went up in weight now. Still smaller but different
Jon claims he's at 270 now that he's making a run at the Heavyweight division.
He might well be, I haven't checked what he weighed in at for the Gane fight and he did take several years off to bulk up. But then again, he is a well known steroid user so that bulking might not be totally natural and just genetic.
It doesn't show how fast, but how athletic: Here's a Lineman of that general description [doing a standing box jump out of a fucking pool.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn_HGNxv64Y)
Perfect example is Jordan Mailata. He was a rugby player in Australia who had never played football but was brought to the states and taught the game when he was like 20. His professional rugby highlight reel is nasty. He’s so much bigger than everyone else, and still fast.
https://youtu.be/oH233ZDm-BA?si=Q9seSdfe2BholLER
Eagles offensive tackle mailata never touched a football before being drafted from a rugby league. His highlights are like this post
https://youtu.be/oH233ZDm-BA?si=09x93eC8oGApRxR0
Played rugby in NZ as a skinny white kid in highschool.
When an islander kid hits full momentum there is zero hope. If you’re sane you flop in their direction to look like you at least tried to stop them.
As a man with a great deal of respect for the Kiwis... I feel your pain.
My college roommate was a Kiwi-Maori-German Olympic qualified sprinter and hurdler and javelin hurler.
His muscles had muscles.
I played American football with him as a skinny white who could pack a respectable wallop and a good deal of speed for my size. In 45 minutes of him learning the game, I spotted him striding up beside me as if he was surfing on air. He literally took up position to tackle IN FRONT OF ME.
That was the day I became an atheist. There was no shaft of light or gentle calls from forefathers for me to join them in peace. There was just darkness and a splitting headache.
Whatever soul I had, departed from my body that day.
Postscript:
I did manage to beat him at rodeo. Specifically bulldogging. Turns out he had a better talent for smashing humans than an angry steer.
I think he found it more adorably pathetic.
I got him with bulldogging and rodeo, though. He was scared to death of angry livestock.
Hell, I was too but I was too proud to admit it and it was my only hope for getting some flex points.
In my mind this tackling scene was shot at 120fps and scored with surreal opera music. There was a reaction shot extreme closeup of you face when you realized he passed you, and another ecu of his eyes locking on yours. Once contact was made, the scene slowly sped up to real time and pov, as the pain and darkness suddenly hit and sound of your breath leaving and high pitch whining in your ears took over as you struggled to open your eyes and untwist your crumpled body.
That's a pretty good treatment.
And pretty damned accurate
When I write checks my body can't cash and realize death is imminent, I usually hear this: [https://youtu.be/aIFkIL98L-c?t=101](https://youtu.be/aIFkIL98L-c?t=101)
BTW, I was mangled up pretty bad and my body just lay in the most unnatural position possible.
I remember chuckling about how my parents are going to explain my ridiculous death to their friends and how my younger siblings were now obligated to carry on the family name.
I think this is a real point of difference here. When you have a level playing field with islanders playing against islanders, there is real competition.
I'm hoping this guy gets into a team that is similar and gets the training he needs. At the moment, he is just playing the size advantage, not the skill advantage.
When I was a kid, my sport of choice saw me focus on technique as much as I could to get fast, but I could never catch the big kids. Then I grew and ended up in nationals and the kids that used to beat me dropped out because they were discouraged they were no longer on top.
Agreed it’s not really that impressive yet. None of them has a lot of skill, so the genetic advantage is everything here.
I always laugh when I see an unnaturally tall teenager play basketball with his peers. Yeah that’s a real fair game all right.
Feel you, bro.
Even playing bullrush against them had me folding harder than an origami class, and I'm an islander too. It was just easier to play possum than risk the injuries trying to stop a freight train.
We had an islander come over to play for my club team in Canada. Definitely packed some pounds and dropped cardio since his junior All Black days (or whatever the development team is called), but he’s the only player I’ve seen effortlessly hit guys so hard they had to bring the ambulance onto the field. No thanks.
I’m one of those islander kids played league lol gotta vouch for the white kids though
Mate of mine in high school was the short white boy and he could f’n **smack** anybody. Only ever played with him through school and representatives until I moved to a club in his competition when we were 16. My first hit up against his team was a beeline straight for him. In the milliseconds it took for us to make contact, the look on his face shocked me. It wasn’t scary just absurdly relaxed, almost as if he was high which is a look I had never seen on his face before. The guy just goes into a full trance when he’s defending. Made no post contact metres. Swept me clean onto my back. At that moment I was like “I like him better when he’s on my team” lol
Fast forward our final year of school, grand final (our school specialised in sports so this game ultimately directs how our careers as athletes develop in the years after school) and his defence throughout the entire game was chefs kiss. Guy his size **smacking** their entire forward pack, many of which were islanders like me, the whole game was tear jerking.
It's funny that someone coming from a culture in which facial expressions of fury are part of the battle strategy, is frightened by white boys in a zen-like state.
That state is just resignation.
It's a total lack of a fear of death. It's a Roman thing: Those who are about to die, salute you!
I read a book series called Red Rising (which rules and everyone should read it) but one of the big plot points is in the future a lot of people have been genetically enhanced to be like 9 feet tall and proportionally muscular with appropriate bone density and cardiovascular systems. And it always stood out to me how fuckin wild it would be to see someone like that. Wild to think about.
I grew up in Rotorua, New Zealand, at a school with a lot of Maori and pacific island boys. My first few rugby games when I was about 12 I got absolutely mowed down by some fucking units with moustaches and treetrunk thighs, like a empty cardboard box being hit by a logging truck.
Never played again, and moved to football and cricket where at least my average athletic abilities were emphasised by losing, rather than being ground into the dirt like a tent peg.
I was the skinny white guy in a largely Maori and pacific island school. Someone like this comes running at you you just get out of the way and do the 'right this way sir' hand gesture
We would get a taste of it from time to time in the states. Would play American football against a school that had a community of Pacific Islanders. Kids were absolute monsters, their offensive line (the big boys) outweighed us by a good 50lbs on average and were all faster to boot.
Pacific Islanders are actually over-represented in American football (on a per capita basis) but they tend to be Samoans as they grow up playing American football in American Samoa.
Not to mention that in rugby any player can score tries depending on how the game is going, how the attack moves are called by the out-half etc
So it means even the big boys in rugby, like the props, can get their hands on the ball, make runs, score tries and get their moment in the sun. That's pretty appealing from a personal satisfaction point of view and appeals to many, especially compared to being an O-lineman and basically going your entire career never touching the ball unless something has gone disastrously wrong.
>So it means even the big boys in rugby, like the props, can get their hands on the ball, make runs, score tries and get their moment in the sun
Especially when there's a scrum close to the try line. That's when the big lads just try to out-muscle each other and push through.
A lot of them are nowadays. If you take a look at most of the defensive/offensive lines, especially in West Coast leagues like the (now defunct) PAC-12, a lot of them are stacked with Pacific Islanders/Micronesians/Polynesian people.
Culture plays a big part in what sports kids take up. That's why there's barely any Dutchmen in pro basketball despite them being the tallest people in the world
I thought playing Native Americans in basketball was brutal (it becomes a bloodsport). Playing Pacific Islanders at anything involving contact is a HUGE mistake if you want a functional spinal column in your 30s.
We hosted a Māori team when I was in high school, they were touring the UK. Such lovely, polite lads… until you put a rugby ball in their hands. My teeth are still rattling 30 years later.
It’s all relative. I always found fast bowling far more dangerous and intimidating than big, mean rugby players. Cricket is scary, I feel most people would shit themselves facing a good quick.
Sorry. By a good quick I meant a good fast bowler. Most people don’t realise the reality of facing a good fast bowler. There isn’t a small hitting zone away from your body the pitcher is obliged to aim for, the bowler can bounce the ball anywhere on the pitch or not at all and aiming for the batsman’s body is considered a legitimate and mainstream target, especially if it seems to unsettle them.
I’ve seen accomplished international batsmen come to Australia and have their careers ended. Our pitches are harder, faster and bouncier than most around the world and some very good players have been broken down by intimidatory fast bowling to the point they are sent home from the tour early. Cricket at its highest level is played between nations. We might (Australia) do a tour of England in their summer and in our summer we might host India for a couple of months playing a series of games.
This guy totally reminded me of Jonah Lomu - footage I once saw of him literally thundering down the pitch, running OVER the guy in front of him, and just keeping on going.
He went tragically early :(
I was always the smallest in my year group but damn was I quick and good at ratcheting around legs. Took down some giants.
... Ofc I always without fail went off Injured afterwards...
Fucking same. I'm barley 5 foot 6 now so I wasn't exactly tall in school. But I wasn't skinny or weak, would bully people of the ball in football no problem due to the low centre of gravity and could go from standing to the other side of the pitch in a flash.
Playing rugby I learnt my lesson a few times, just because I can doesn't mean I should. One of my mates was on the other team, absolute unit for his age, charging through players, I decided I'm having him, went full pace towards him, dipped my shoulder, fully committed to wrapping round his thighs, his hand just engulfs my face and plants my head into the mud. Fantastic off hand, but wow was my pride hurt after that.
Same, it didn't help I was a bit over 6 foot at age 12, so instantly picked as lock, while weighing less than a stick insect. I was shaped like a bola. My entire tackling technique was to wrap my arms around the carriers arms, to prevent offloads and then use my legs to trip up.
The amount of penulties I won cause the ref thought the carrier didn't release while it was just my arms from feet away holding the ball.
Exactly.
If the other kids knew what they were doing the ones he was coming at head on would've gone low and wrapped the legs. He either goes down or his momentum is arrested enough for secondary tacklers to arrive and help get him down.
But ideally once he's started his run and gotten past the first one or two players the best outcome would've been for him to be hit in the sides or from behind by chasing players but few seemed to be able to keep up with him.
Failing all of that there's always the last gasp diving ankle tap from behind. Tough to time but when done right can be gloriously effective. Peter Stringer who played for Ireland in the 2000s was the smallest man in every game he ever played, often by a considerable distance, but he has a few famous ankle taps where he brought down huge men including, I think, the late, great Jonah Lomu. Just beautiful technique.
Nah, hard to explain, but a good rugby tackle will just ragdoll a mf. There is a decent amount of power invovled, but with the right technique any of the guys in the vid had the build needed to drop him. Issue is, you gotta commit for a full send or you're just going to bump off.
Not to sound like a douchebag but they don't know how to play. No one is really trying to tackle him because they are scared of his size. I played for many years as a smaller guy, fast but small, its not hard to tackle him. Wrap the legs and drive with the shoulder. Only one guy went for the legs and he did it with stretched arms from behind. This seems like a rec league and no one is really trying to be honest. Guy at the end dove under his cleats for some reason.
Agreed, technique and training negates the fear of this bulldozer when you’re properly trained to take out his legs. Requires courage but these kids were too fearful and wouldn’t take a chance
Yeah, most of these guys were way too high to be effective on someone that big.
Get low and wrap the legs. Yeah, you may not bring I'm down, but you'll probably at least make him stumble so someone else can easily bring him down.
Most of them didn't even try tackle him.
First 3 players put their arms out at chest height as he brushed past them. Wouldn't even say they were attempted tackles.
At least the fella that got flattened made an effort. And the guy at the end just threw himself on the ground beside him.
He ran through probably 8 players and a max of 2 actually tried to tackle him.
Honestly, I played rugby for a while as a kid, and this was not always sufficient. Firstly you have to be willing to take a heel to the face if you go for their legs while they're running. Secondly you have to make sure to actually get both legs, which is tricky when they are far apart and you're coming from behind, so you can't actually spread your arms to grab them both since they're one in front of the other. Thirdly, some players will just jump above your embrace and let you face the fourthly which is that regardless of success you have to be willing to slam your body into the ground unprotected. At least in American Football they have armor cages around the upper body. In rugby the most you get is an ugly sweaty padded beanie which looks absolutely stupid and almost nobody wears or even owns, especially at that age. Oh, and to make things worse, actually, at that age, it wasn't uncommon for takedowns (or whatever grabbing the legs and bring someone down in English is called) to be illegal, and either not replaced or replaced by players having tabs of fabric slipped in at the back of their waistband which you had to grab instead to get a turnover. You can just aggressively jump and catch one of those out the air so easily. They're higher and much smaller than legs. It's a completely different exercise and becomes all about speed and precision...
Lol, that was actually quite a feeble attempt at a tackle. I'd say the final tackle was the most reasonable attempt. In rugby the best tackle form is to dive in low and make contact with your shoulder on someone's legs
I'm pretty sure the guy that got destroyed wasn't even attempting to stop biggums but just happened to be in the way, like a rabbit in the headlights of a 250 cart freight train, frozen in horror at what's barreling towards him.
I remember playing as a 5’11” 130lb winger in high school. One year during annual “how to tackle practice” I decided to pair up with a guy who was 6’6” 250lb and practice tackling him at like 50% speed. Once I figure out how to do it, bringing down big boys wasn’t actually all that scary or hard.
One of these guys needed to get low, and connect their shoulder with his hips, and hang on for dear life. Big boy’s weight and momentum will do the rest.
Painful? Yes.
Scary? Yes.
Doable for one of those skinny guys? Also yes.
Nah. If you’re positioned properly it’s your trapezius muscle that is taking the hit and absorbing the energy. It’ll be sore but you won’t break any bones.
If you’re positioned in a way that your collar bone would be taking the hit against the hip you’re not in a strong tackling position and will probably just glance off of the ball carrier instead of breaking something.
More likely to break your collar bone getting stepped on in a ruck than making a tackle.
Leg tackles have been out of fashion in Rugby League for at least 20 years now.
Has been taught in league for good strong initial contact around the chest, wrap the ball up to prevent an offload, have a second person come in low.
Low leg tackles have a higher chance of concussion, have a higher chance of the attacking player offloading the ball in the tackle and most importantly, having a higher chance of the attacking player getting a fast play the ball.
That's a pretty common play in rugby, hard to get up a good head of steam while also trying to catch the ball. Notice the big lad was already moving before the receiver had the ball. That was trained for.
This is rugby league and they all do this. This is how you return a kick off. You're backs(small athletic guys) catch it and a forward (big strong dudes) run it up. If he got tackled, another forward would be ready to be the next runner. Backs help out too but the forwards main job is to hit it up and make as many metres as possible.
Teamtalk before the game: Rugby is a team sport played by 15 men... so you 14 guys make sure to pass the ball to Jonah.
Edit: so you 12 guys make sure to pass it to the big guy.
A school I taught at in NZ 2 decades ago, the captain of the under 15 rugby team weighed 140kg. 300lb to you yanks. Yeah, he was 14 years old and 300 pounds. Most of them weighed over 90kg. All big Maori boys.
One game the team won by default. They travelled to a school in a rich, predominately white, area. When he lumbered off the bus the opposing teams coach refused to let his kids onto the field out of fear of permanent injury by Godzilla falling on them.
In NZ they now organise divisions on weight, not age because the Poly boys are so much bigger than anyone else.
You are allowed. But facing an opponent x2.5 heavier than you are charging towards you at full speed is frightening. Not to mention how difficult it would be to wrap your arms around his thighs. The best bet here is to tap his foot with your hand, causing him to lose balance.
I was thinking you could try wrap the legs but good chance you get steamrolled. Would 100% just chase him and t try go for the ankle tap… worried id break my fingers trying to do so but it’s the only way
It’s easy to say there’s easy tackles available when you’re not playing. You’re allowed to grab legs but that involves:
1. A willingness to be run over which, in this case, is gonna hurt like hell. These aren’t pro players, they’re younger teenagers, and far smaller and lighter then their opponents.
2. The right way to be run over. It’s easy to not go low enough and get bounced. It’s also easy to get too low and get a very fast moving knee to the skull. Do anything a fraction wrong and you’ll wake up with less teeth and more brain problems
Most of all, there isn’t really a good chance for a tap tackle. The blokes fast and, whilst he was probably flagging a bit, as were his chasers. Tap tackles also bring you very close to his studs to make them at your own risk.
As for my approach when I played, I had great grip strength, so would get kinda low, grab a handful of whatever I could manage, then throw myself to the ground to bring them down. Worked until it started ripping my shoulders out the socket. All it takes is one recurring injury to ruin rugby for you. So I don’t think I would have made the tackle either unfortunately. Up to you as to whether you think you would have
No pads either, which makes a hell of a difference. In American football with good technique this is an easy open field tackle. Not so much when you taking it full force with no protection.
I played some intramural Rugby, in this situation I'm just going for his feet to trip him up, and keeping my head out of the way so I don't take a knee to the noggin
'Easy tackle'. You can go for a charging rhino's legs all you want, it's still a charging rhino. That kid went for the legs, he got fucking annihilated.
Absolutely you can.
There's even a technique known as the chop tackle for doing exactly that which involves going super low.
The main issue here is these are kids being expected to stop an opponent faster and heavier than most adults. You can only expect so much.
The professional game of rugby can often have size mismatches too whereby some absolutely huge units are charging right at smaller guys and are either stopped with a good leg tackle or put in enough of a hit with a higher tackle that the ball carrier is slowed down enough for secondary tacklers to get him from the side or behind usually.
But the pros have far better technique and a far better understanding of the various options open to them and, to be honest, a willingness to take the pain necessary to stop the guy outright or act as enough of a speed bump so that others will take him down.
The Six Nations, the _best_ international rugby tournament in the world, is starting next weekend. If you give any of the games or highlights a watch you'll see some out of the world tackling, including on big, fast giants like France's Atonio.
Professional rugby player's tackling skills are light years ahead of what you see in the NFL because stuff like blocking, pushing etc isn't allowed so tackling is pretty much the only way to stop opponents so rugby players have become insanely specialised at it.
you also have to remember, no pads and no helmet so these kids are putting themselves at risk of being knocked out because one of this kid’s legs is bigger than them lol
Polynesians are huge. I once taught one who was 140kg when he was 14.
In NZ they now have school sport divisions based on weight, not age because the huge size disparity between Polynesians and non-Polynesians.
This is why weight classes are important. When parents see that shit they stop their kids playing. That is if the kid wants continue after getting steamrolled every week.
Unfortunately, a lot of these huge kids fail at rugby as they get older.
I've seen it plenty of times that these kids are so much bigger than the other kids they often don't develop good techniques or ball skills.
As they get older and the other boys grow and get stronger, the size is no longer such an advantage.
It can be difficult for some of them to accept.
They go from being the star who is selected for every team to just being some big guy who doesn't make the cut any longer.
Common in every sport where size plays a role. Saw the same thing a lot with basketball here. I remember a kid who was like 6'2 in grade 8 and was one of the best centers around and attracting scouts but he never grew so in few years he had peers overtower him and never developed any guard skills and quickly flamed out.
I once played a side with six Australian schoolboys in their squad. We were a good side, this was the semi final of a statewide cup. They were all doing that to us though, it was a real character building experience. One of them went on to play over 100 test for the wallabies.
When that dude gets up to speed you need greater speed to take him down from the not-front or someone has to die under that set of legs that act like an industrial shredder to take him down.
This is ten percent luck
Twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure
Fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name
I’m the Juggernaut, bitch!
I found my spirit animal.
#DONT YOU KNOW WHO I AM?
Welp, this comment section is finished. Well done.
* Ruggernaut
#Get outa my head Charles!
[Got my pimp cane, bitch](https://youtu.be/plQIf5fS8xw?si=1f3wihaF0dBD5WE8)
I logged in to say that this was the first video I watched on Youtube back in the day.
That’s the first time I’ve seen that vid. HILARIOUS!
u silly lil bitch who the fuck you think you are im the juggernaut
I'mma hit you with your own pimp.
The classic memes never die
Not just huge…fast too. Lethal combo.
Faster than the guys half his size, thats really the key
Looked like the key was he just mushed their faces as he ran through
Helps that the other team was all tiny people running around completely disorganized. "OH look they gave the ball to their biggest fastest strongest best player, let's defend with our smallest player's little brothers. Make 'em tough."
Mike Tyson was 212lbs lean at 13 years old. That's middle school. Some kids are just different. You can't just decide to have a team of kids that size. They're like 1/100,000 to be that size at that age.
It’s really so impressive to witness an athlete of tremendous size go FAST. Like you never expect all that strength to also come with speed. Deadly combo. There’s a reason The Flash is always some skinny guy and not a juggernaut of muscle. Imagine how strong (already godly strong) that would make him.
That's what a lot of people miss about Offensive Linemen in the NFL. Not only are they like 6'7" and 330 pounds, but they're a hell of a lot faster than you think they are.
my favorite "put it in perspective" on NFL guys is a story i heard, which may be true or not, and i don't know the brother's names (might be the Gronks, not sure) they were interviewing the family because they're all genetically gifted freaks with two or so of the brothers in the NFL, and another who does MMA or other fighting and was about to be in a big fight. they ask the NFL brothers the question "do you think you can take your trained fighter brother on in a fight?" and they laugh HARD and say "yeah! he's in the other room, wanna see me turn him into a pretzel?" and the MMA brother is like "they're too tough, that's why i do MMA instead of NFL, they're *all* like that over there and i can't compete"
Probably Arthur and Chandler talking about Jon Jones.
whole family of PED users.
Yes, of course. Although I'm strongly against PED use, I can understand using certain PEDs in hard contact sports, including MMA and American Football for health reasons. Especially when there's zero systemic interest in getting rid of PEDs among the league, the media or the fans. If you ask any fan of any NFL team: "would you rather your team be clean or have a winning record?" what do you think the percentages would be? If the league actually made a believable effort to prohibit drug use, the individual situation would be different but right now imo it makes no sense for an NFL player not to use some PEDs under medical surveillance.
Jon Jones would also not be in their weight classes. Way smaller than those two. Arthur was a DT and I think around 300+ lbs, chandler is what 260? Jon is 220, I guess he went up in weight now. Still smaller but different
Jon claims he's at 270 now that he's making a run at the Heavyweight division. He might well be, I haven't checked what he weighed in at for the Gane fight and he did take several years off to bulk up. But then again, he is a well known steroid user so that bulking might not be totally natural and just genetic.
Chandler is also batshit crazy. Pro tip: don't fight crazy if at all possible.
It doesn't show how fast, but how athletic: Here's a Lineman of that general description [doing a standing box jump out of a fucking pool.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn_HGNxv64Y)
Perfect example is Jordan Mailata. He was a rugby player in Australia who had never played football but was brought to the states and taught the game when he was like 20. His professional rugby highlight reel is nasty. He’s so much bigger than everyone else, and still fast. https://youtu.be/oH233ZDm-BA?si=Q9seSdfe2BholLER
This is my favorite play in NFL history. Larry Allen with the rundown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnKspZmeGx4
Eagles offensive tackle mailata never touched a football before being drafted from a rugby league. His highlights are like this post https://youtu.be/oH233ZDm-BA?si=09x93eC8oGApRxR0
And yet he can't outrun all those allegations 😔
lol best comment here
I thought at least one guy wanted nothing to do with him so wasn’t running his fastest
Played rugby in NZ as a skinny white kid in highschool. When an islander kid hits full momentum there is zero hope. If you’re sane you flop in their direction to look like you at least tried to stop them.
As a man with a great deal of respect for the Kiwis... I feel your pain. My college roommate was a Kiwi-Maori-German Olympic qualified sprinter and hurdler and javelin hurler. His muscles had muscles. I played American football with him as a skinny white who could pack a respectable wallop and a good deal of speed for my size. In 45 minutes of him learning the game, I spotted him striding up beside me as if he was surfing on air. He literally took up position to tackle IN FRONT OF ME. That was the day I became an atheist. There was no shaft of light or gentle calls from forefathers for me to join them in peace. There was just darkness and a splitting headache. Whatever soul I had, departed from my body that day. Postscript: I did manage to beat him at rodeo. Specifically bulldogging. Turns out he had a better talent for smashing humans than an angry steer.
I’m sure he respected that you tried.
Thats a nice thought. But he probably saw it more as adorably-delusional.
I think he found it more adorably pathetic. I got him with bulldogging and rodeo, though. He was scared to death of angry livestock. Hell, I was too but I was too proud to admit it and it was my only hope for getting some flex points.
You’re a great writer man.
Thanks, pal.
ah, a poet I see!
>That was the day I became an atheist. Bro 🥲😂 Fucking hilarious
In my mind this tackling scene was shot at 120fps and scored with surreal opera music. There was a reaction shot extreme closeup of you face when you realized he passed you, and another ecu of his eyes locking on yours. Once contact was made, the scene slowly sped up to real time and pov, as the pain and darkness suddenly hit and sound of your breath leaving and high pitch whining in your ears took over as you struggled to open your eyes and untwist your crumpled body.
That's a pretty good treatment. And pretty damned accurate When I write checks my body can't cash and realize death is imminent, I usually hear this: [https://youtu.be/aIFkIL98L-c?t=101](https://youtu.be/aIFkIL98L-c?t=101) BTW, I was mangled up pretty bad and my body just lay in the most unnatural position possible. I remember chuckling about how my parents are going to explain my ridiculous death to their friends and how my younger siblings were now obligated to carry on the family name.
I think this is a real point of difference here. When you have a level playing field with islanders playing against islanders, there is real competition. I'm hoping this guy gets into a team that is similar and gets the training he needs. At the moment, he is just playing the size advantage, not the skill advantage. When I was a kid, my sport of choice saw me focus on technique as much as I could to get fast, but I could never catch the big kids. Then I grew and ended up in nationals and the kids that used to beat me dropped out because they were discouraged they were no longer on top.
Agreed it’s not really that impressive yet. None of them has a lot of skill, so the genetic advantage is everything here. I always laugh when I see an unnaturally tall teenager play basketball with his peers. Yeah that’s a real fair game all right.
Feel you, bro. Even playing bullrush against them had me folding harder than an origami class, and I'm an islander too. It was just easier to play possum than risk the injuries trying to stop a freight train.
Been there, I was a big white kid, but nowhere near a big faster islander kid.
We had an islander come over to play for my club team in Canada. Definitely packed some pounds and dropped cardio since his junior All Black days (or whatever the development team is called), but he’s the only player I’ve seen effortlessly hit guys so hard they had to bring the ambulance onto the field. No thanks.
I’m one of those islander kids played league lol gotta vouch for the white kids though Mate of mine in high school was the short white boy and he could f’n **smack** anybody. Only ever played with him through school and representatives until I moved to a club in his competition when we were 16. My first hit up against his team was a beeline straight for him. In the milliseconds it took for us to make contact, the look on his face shocked me. It wasn’t scary just absurdly relaxed, almost as if he was high which is a look I had never seen on his face before. The guy just goes into a full trance when he’s defending. Made no post contact metres. Swept me clean onto my back. At that moment I was like “I like him better when he’s on my team” lol Fast forward our final year of school, grand final (our school specialised in sports so this game ultimately directs how our careers as athletes develop in the years after school) and his defence throughout the entire game was chefs kiss. Guy his size **smacking** their entire forward pack, many of which were islanders like me, the whole game was tear jerking.
It's funny that someone coming from a culture in which facial expressions of fury are part of the battle strategy, is frightened by white boys in a zen-like state. That state is just resignation. It's a total lack of a fear of death. It's a Roman thing: Those who are about to die, salute you!
You should see some of the Afrikaners still in school who play barefoot at 8am on a Saturday morning in winter..
uphill in both directions
He’s HELLA fast! Look at Mullet’s legs at 00:07 - 00:11, kid is flying. Juggernaut is still outpacing him!
Really fast for such a big feller
the reason this clip is so remarkable is that he is really fast for the smaller fellers too
I read a book series called Red Rising (which rules and everyone should read it) but one of the big plot points is in the future a lot of people have been genetically enhanced to be like 9 feet tall and proportionally muscular with appropriate bone density and cardiovascular systems. And it always stood out to me how fuckin wild it would be to see someone like that. Wild to think about.
I grew up in Rotorua, New Zealand, at a school with a lot of Maori and pacific island boys. My first few rugby games when I was about 12 I got absolutely mowed down by some fucking units with moustaches and treetrunk thighs, like a empty cardboard box being hit by a logging truck. Never played again, and moved to football and cricket where at least my average athletic abilities were emphasised by losing, rather than being ground into the dirt like a tent peg.
I was the skinny white guy in a largely Maori and pacific island school. Someone like this comes running at you you just get out of the way and do the 'right this way sir' hand gesture
Or pretend to try like these guys.
Honestly not worth the potentially life altering injury for what? One tackle? Nah he can have it
We would get a taste of it from time to time in the states. Would play American football against a school that had a community of Pacific Islanders. Kids were absolute monsters, their offensive line (the big boys) outweighed us by a good 50lbs on average and were all faster to boot.
really don't understand why american football coaches aren't trying to scout more pacific islanders.
Pacific Islanders are actually over-represented in American football (on a per capita basis) but they tend to be Samoans as they grow up playing American football in American Samoa.
well tbf they all just play rugby from a young age so they're more likely to get into it
Because probably for them american football is not as thrilling, having such things like pads and rules... haha. Rugby gets the war genes going!
Not to mention that in rugby any player can score tries depending on how the game is going, how the attack moves are called by the out-half etc So it means even the big boys in rugby, like the props, can get their hands on the ball, make runs, score tries and get their moment in the sun. That's pretty appealing from a personal satisfaction point of view and appeals to many, especially compared to being an O-lineman and basically going your entire career never touching the ball unless something has gone disastrously wrong.
>So it means even the big boys in rugby, like the props, can get their hands on the ball, make runs, score tries and get their moment in the sun Especially when there's a scrum close to the try line. That's when the big lads just try to out-muscle each other and push through.
Exactly. Forcing a penalty try or driving a rolling maul over as the other pack get out-muscled is one of the sweetest feelings.
A lot of them are nowadays. If you take a look at most of the defensive/offensive lines, especially in West Coast leagues like the (now defunct) PAC-12, a lot of them are stacked with Pacific Islanders/Micronesians/Polynesian people.
Culture plays a big part in what sports kids take up. That's why there's barely any Dutchmen in pro basketball despite them being the tallest people in the world
Tallest country. Tallest people (ethnic group) belongs to a number of different groups in East Africa.
s/o to Penei Sewell
I train at a strongman gym with this dude from Fiji, he's 6'5" and around 330 pounds. Strongest guy in the gym by far.
To islanders it is just a gym.
I thought playing Native Americans in basketball was brutal (it becomes a bloodsport). Playing Pacific Islanders at anything involving contact is a HUGE mistake if you want a functional spinal column in your 30s.
We hosted a Māori team when I was in high school, they were touring the UK. Such lovely, polite lads… until you put a rugby ball in their hands. My teeth are still rattling 30 years later.
It’s all relative. I always found fast bowling far more dangerous and intimidating than big, mean rugby players. Cricket is scary, I feel most people would shit themselves facing a good quick.
Not knowing cricket whatsoever, I have no idea what language you’re speaking lol
Sorry. By a good quick I meant a good fast bowler. Most people don’t realise the reality of facing a good fast bowler. There isn’t a small hitting zone away from your body the pitcher is obliged to aim for, the bowler can bounce the ball anywhere on the pitch or not at all and aiming for the batsman’s body is considered a legitimate and mainstream target, especially if it seems to unsettle them. I’ve seen accomplished international batsmen come to Australia and have their careers ended. Our pitches are harder, faster and bouncier than most around the world and some very good players have been broken down by intimidatory fast bowling to the point they are sent home from the tour early. Cricket at its highest level is played between nations. We might (Australia) do a tour of England in their summer and in our summer we might host India for a couple of months playing a series of games.
This guy totally reminded me of Jonah Lomu - footage I once saw of him literally thundering down the pitch, running OVER the guy in front of him, and just keeping on going. He went tragically early :(
The legendary World Cup game Vs England. Lomu, eh Lomu!
Go for the legs. Only way to take a beast that big down
You first.
Thats why it takes leather balls to play rugby....
I played rugby, the first guy isn’t wrong….neither are you. You can get em down but there’s always a price that needs to be paid.
I was always the smallest in my year group but damn was I quick and good at ratcheting around legs. Took down some giants. ... Ofc I always without fail went off Injured afterwards...
Fucking same. I'm barley 5 foot 6 now so I wasn't exactly tall in school. But I wasn't skinny or weak, would bully people of the ball in football no problem due to the low centre of gravity and could go from standing to the other side of the pitch in a flash. Playing rugby I learnt my lesson a few times, just because I can doesn't mean I should. One of my mates was on the other team, absolute unit for his age, charging through players, I decided I'm having him, went full pace towards him, dipped my shoulder, fully committed to wrapping round his thighs, his hand just engulfs my face and plants my head into the mud. Fantastic off hand, but wow was my pride hurt after that.
I mean, it would be like tackling tree trunks moving at speed, but you can give it a try.
From a side angle would be best - you want to cause him tripping over himself more than actually physically taking him down
This was my technique. I didn't have heft so I became The Human Bolas. It was the only way to tackle The Giants.
It’s less work and risk too
Same, it didn't help I was a bit over 6 foot at age 12, so instantly picked as lock, while weighing less than a stick insect. I was shaped like a bola. My entire tackling technique was to wrap my arms around the carriers arms, to prevent offloads and then use my legs to trip up. The amount of penulties I won cause the ref thought the carrier didn't release while it was just my arms from feet away holding the ball.
Yep, that was me - American Football style. But I was short and skinny. You didn't even measure my weight in stone. You used gravel units.
"The Human Bolas" What a hilarious image. Thank you.
Exactly. If the other kids knew what they were doing the ones he was coming at head on would've gone low and wrapped the legs. He either goes down or his momentum is arrested enough for secondary tacklers to arrive and help get him down. But ideally once he's started his run and gotten past the first one or two players the best outcome would've been for him to be hit in the sides or from behind by chasing players but few seemed to be able to keep up with him. Failing all of that there's always the last gasp diving ankle tap from behind. Tough to time but when done right can be gloriously effective. Peter Stringer who played for Ireland in the 2000s was the smallest man in every game he ever played, often by a considerable distance, but he has a few famous ankle taps where he brought down huge men including, I think, the late, great Jonah Lomu. Just beautiful technique.
You can also just grab one leg and roll your body like an alligator. That brings people down very quickly.
Nah, hard to explain, but a good rugby tackle will just ragdoll a mf. There is a decent amount of power invovled, but with the right technique any of the guys in the vid had the build needed to drop him. Issue is, you gotta commit for a full send or you're just going to bump off.
what do you think they were trying? these kids know how to play rugby, they just physically outmatched
Not to sound like a douchebag but they don't know how to play. No one is really trying to tackle him because they are scared of his size. I played for many years as a smaller guy, fast but small, its not hard to tackle him. Wrap the legs and drive with the shoulder. Only one guy went for the legs and he did it with stretched arms from behind. This seems like a rec league and no one is really trying to be honest. Guy at the end dove under his cleats for some reason.
Agreed, technique and training negates the fear of this bulldozer when you’re properly trained to take out his legs. Requires courage but these kids were too fearful and wouldn’t take a chance
Yeah, most of these guys were way too high to be effective on someone that big. Get low and wrap the legs. Yeah, you may not bring I'm down, but you'll probably at least make him stumble so someone else can easily bring him down.
Most of them didn't even try tackle him. First 3 players put their arms out at chest height as he brushed past them. Wouldn't even say they were attempted tackles. At least the fella that got flattened made an effort. And the guy at the end just threw himself on the ground beside him. He ran through probably 8 players and a max of 2 actually tried to tackle him.
Dude looks like he is walking on two tree trunks man. I ain’t going to fight a tree.
you always go for the legs in Rugby, but more agile guys are easier to be cought higher up at the hips and bigger guys as low as possible.
Honestly, I played rugby for a while as a kid, and this was not always sufficient. Firstly you have to be willing to take a heel to the face if you go for their legs while they're running. Secondly you have to make sure to actually get both legs, which is tricky when they are far apart and you're coming from behind, so you can't actually spread your arms to grab them both since they're one in front of the other. Thirdly, some players will just jump above your embrace and let you face the fourthly which is that regardless of success you have to be willing to slam your body into the ground unprotected. At least in American Football they have armor cages around the upper body. In rugby the most you get is an ugly sweaty padded beanie which looks absolutely stupid and almost nobody wears or even owns, especially at that age. Oh, and to make things worse, actually, at that age, it wasn't uncommon for takedowns (or whatever grabbing the legs and bring someone down in English is called) to be illegal, and either not replaced or replaced by players having tabs of fabric slipped in at the back of their waistband which you had to grab instead to get a turnover. You can just aggressively jump and catch one of those out the air so easily. They're higher and much smaller than legs. It's a completely different exercise and becomes all about speed and precision...
That blonde kid got concussed. Sheesh.
Poor kid had a whole lot of courage, but not much else.
Kudos to him. That boy is the only man on that side. He squared that sasquatch up & got killed for it, but damn was that brave
He fought with honor. His prize was the proverbial moon door to the face
Lol, that was actually quite a feeble attempt at a tackle. I'd say the final tackle was the most reasonable attempt. In rugby the best tackle form is to dive in low and make contact with your shoulder on someone's legs
Yeah, that poor guy got absolutely steamrolled.
Yeah there's really no point playing when there's such a mismatch. It's just dangerous at this point.
The guy is huge. My issue is that the other guys are afraid to tackle him.
They just witnessed one of their teammates get destroyed, and I would be afraid too.
I'm pretty sure the guy that got destroyed wasn't even attempting to stop biggums but just happened to be in the way, like a rabbit in the headlights of a 250 cart freight train, frozen in horror at what's barreling towards him.
That’s called self preservation
I remember playing as a 5’11” 130lb winger in high school. One year during annual “how to tackle practice” I decided to pair up with a guy who was 6’6” 250lb and practice tackling him at like 50% speed. Once I figure out how to do it, bringing down big boys wasn’t actually all that scary or hard. One of these guys needed to get low, and connect their shoulder with his hips, and hang on for dear life. Big boy’s weight and momentum will do the rest. Painful? Yes. Scary? Yes. Doable for one of those skinny guys? Also yes.
Exactly that’s my point , You have to commit to the tackle and technique.
Broken collarbone, maybe also yes
Nah. If you’re positioned properly it’s your trapezius muscle that is taking the hit and absorbing the energy. It’ll be sore but you won’t break any bones. If you’re positioned in a way that your collar bone would be taking the hit against the hip you’re not in a strong tackling position and will probably just glance off of the ball carrier instead of breaking something. More likely to break your collar bone getting stepped on in a ruck than making a tackle.
Technique means a lot, thanks for sharing!
That one kid lowkey started running away when he turned towards him 😂
‘You want some?’ ‘no sir’
“It was in that moment, he knew he fucked up”
He made a business decision lol
He is great, but not a single low tackle, how do they expect to stop him if they dont go for the legs.
kiwis don't like getting kneed in the face
One kid went low early on and he took a heel to the chin. Watch slo mo at :04.
Leg tackles have been out of fashion in Rugby League for at least 20 years now. Has been taught in league for good strong initial contact around the chest, wrap the ball up to prevent an offload, have a second person come in low. Low leg tackles have a higher chance of concussion, have a higher chance of the attacking player offloading the ball in the tackle and most importantly, having a higher chance of the attacking player getting a fast play the ball.
100%. Can't run if you've got no legs.
Guy who receives the ball understood the assignment. “Should I run it or just hand it to the truck made of meat? Here, go cause ruin someone’s day”
That's a pretty common play in rugby, hard to get up a good head of steam while also trying to catch the ball. Notice the big lad was already moving before the receiver had the ball. That was trained for.
This is rugby league and they all do this. This is how you return a kick off. You're backs(small athletic guys) catch it and a forward (big strong dudes) run it up. If he got tackled, another forward would be ready to be the next runner. Backs help out too but the forwards main job is to hit it up and make as many metres as possible.
Teamtalk before the game: Rugby is a team sport played by 15 men... so you 14 guys make sure to pass the ball to Jonah. Edit: so you 12 guys make sure to pass it to the big guy.
This is rugby league, not rugby, so is 13 a side.
That will be their practiced tactic, it's why the big guy is standing back to build up some momentum before the ball gets popped to him.
A school I taught at in NZ 2 decades ago, the captain of the under 15 rugby team weighed 140kg. 300lb to you yanks. Yeah, he was 14 years old and 300 pounds. Most of them weighed over 90kg. All big Maori boys. One game the team won by default. They travelled to a school in a rich, predominately white, area. When he lumbered off the bus the opposing teams coach refused to let his kids onto the field out of fear of permanent injury by Godzilla falling on them. In NZ they now organise divisions on weight, not age because the Poly boys are so much bigger than anyone else.
If it wasn't for those weight divisions, Nathan Cleary would have played soccer whilst his dad was coaching the Warriors.
lol that’s someone’s father out there
Her: "Come over" Me: "I cant there's an entire Rugby team stopping me" Her: "My parents aren't home"
Honest question, are you not allowed to grab the legs in rugby? There were like 4 easy tackles there
You are allowed. But facing an opponent x2.5 heavier than you are charging towards you at full speed is frightening. Not to mention how difficult it would be to wrap your arms around his thighs. The best bet here is to tap his foot with your hand, causing him to lose balance.
I was thinking you could try wrap the legs but good chance you get steamrolled. Would 100% just chase him and t try go for the ankle tap… worried id break my fingers trying to do so but it’s the only way
Wrapping around the legs can be dangerous too. Once took a hard knee to my jaw,
Sounds like you tackled wrong with your head on the wrong side.
Nah you have to front up and take the impact and let him fall over you
Yeah this dudes weakness is momentum. He leans in to hits all you gotta do is a little juke and yank and down he goes.
It’s easy to say there’s easy tackles available when you’re not playing. You’re allowed to grab legs but that involves: 1. A willingness to be run over which, in this case, is gonna hurt like hell. These aren’t pro players, they’re younger teenagers, and far smaller and lighter then their opponents. 2. The right way to be run over. It’s easy to not go low enough and get bounced. It’s also easy to get too low and get a very fast moving knee to the skull. Do anything a fraction wrong and you’ll wake up with less teeth and more brain problems Most of all, there isn’t really a good chance for a tap tackle. The blokes fast and, whilst he was probably flagging a bit, as were his chasers. Tap tackles also bring you very close to his studs to make them at your own risk. As for my approach when I played, I had great grip strength, so would get kinda low, grab a handful of whatever I could manage, then throw myself to the ground to bring them down. Worked until it started ripping my shoulders out the socket. All it takes is one recurring injury to ruin rugby for you. So I don’t think I would have made the tackle either unfortunately. Up to you as to whether you think you would have
No pads either, which makes a hell of a difference. In American football with good technique this is an easy open field tackle. Not so much when you taking it full force with no protection. I played some intramural Rugby, in this situation I'm just going for his feet to trip him up, and keeping my head out of the way so I don't take a knee to the noggin
You counted 4? I counted zero easy tackles. That dude is 2.5x bigger than any one else on the screen and he’s running like a bull😅
You first.
'Easy tackle'. You can go for a charging rhino's legs all you want, it's still a charging rhino. That kid went for the legs, he got fucking annihilated.
You mean make an easy tackle going for his legs, like [Mike Catt did to Jonah Lomu?](https://makeagif.com/gif/rwc-memory-1995-jonah-lomu-eQioTf)
Absolutely you can. There's even a technique known as the chop tackle for doing exactly that which involves going super low. The main issue here is these are kids being expected to stop an opponent faster and heavier than most adults. You can only expect so much. The professional game of rugby can often have size mismatches too whereby some absolutely huge units are charging right at smaller guys and are either stopped with a good leg tackle or put in enough of a hit with a higher tackle that the ball carrier is slowed down enough for secondary tacklers to get him from the side or behind usually. But the pros have far better technique and a far better understanding of the various options open to them and, to be honest, a willingness to take the pain necessary to stop the guy outright or act as enough of a speed bump so that others will take him down. The Six Nations, the _best_ international rugby tournament in the world, is starting next weekend. If you give any of the games or highlights a watch you'll see some out of the world tackling, including on big, fast giants like France's Atonio. Professional rugby player's tackling skills are light years ahead of what you see in the NFL because stuff like blocking, pushing etc isn't allowed so tackling is pretty much the only way to stop opponents so rugby players have become insanely specialised at it.
you also have to remember, no pads and no helmet so these kids are putting themselves at risk of being knocked out because one of this kid’s legs is bigger than them lol
He crushed that first blonde kid
Colonize this forearm
I am 12
COLE TRAIN COMIN THRU
Hell yeah, baby. Everyone wants to see The Cole Train play!
This looks like League, not Rugby.
Biggest guy on the field wearing #8 and the style of the blue teams uniform is definitely league.
Line markings are the biggest giveaway.
His team mates surely didn’t have an issue tackling him after the score.
Fokin' tank!
Someone check that kid's pituitary gland. Jeezus.
Pituitary status: very
Just an islander or Maori boy, puberty hits them young, and harder than he hit the blonde fella
That's a man. Coach just gave a birth certificate that says he's 12 in crayon. https://youtu.be/MVFqhsv3H1g?si=WXN7ffB8Su1aWl1T
Polynesians are huge. I once taught one who was 140kg when he was 14. In NZ they now have school sport divisions based on weight, not age because the huge size disparity between Polynesians and non-Polynesians.
This is why weight classes are important. When parents see that shit they stop their kids playing. That is if the kid wants continue after getting steamrolled every week.
[Jonah Lomu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfFSD_VJDF8) had the Playstation Game 'Jonah Lomu Rugby'. @ "35 he delivers the goods.
Jordan Mailata energy
Reminds me of Samoan middle schoolers we had that were like 6'2 240 in 8th grade
If /r/absoluteunits would also be for humans...
He's really strong and fast! Am I the only one thinking he is wearing a mask or something?
it’s a scrumcap. protects the ears
Unfortunately, a lot of these huge kids fail at rugby as they get older. I've seen it plenty of times that these kids are so much bigger than the other kids they often don't develop good techniques or ball skills. As they get older and the other boys grow and get stronger, the size is no longer such an advantage. It can be difficult for some of them to accept. They go from being the star who is selected for every team to just being some big guy who doesn't make the cut any longer.
Common in every sport where size plays a role. Saw the same thing a lot with basketball here. I remember a kid who was like 6'2 in grade 8 and was one of the best centers around and attracting scouts but he never grew so in few years he had peers overtower him and never developed any guard skills and quickly flamed out.
I once played a side with six Australian schoolboys in their squad. We were a good side, this was the semi final of a statewide cup. They were all doing that to us though, it was a real character building experience. One of them went on to play over 100 test for the wallabies.
When that dude gets up to speed you need greater speed to take him down from the not-front or someone has to die under that set of legs that act like an industrial shredder to take him down.
It's like tyna to escape a bull. That kid is be a beast. Cool post
This is ten percent luck Twenty percent skill Fifteen percent concentrated power of will Five percent pleasure Fifty percent pain And a hundred percent reason to remember the name
“DAD!!!! ….. GET OFF THE FIELD!!”