Koroibete gives All Blacks same treatment as Boks with another dubious tackle
South Africa know all too well what it is like to be on the receiving end of a debatable Marika Koroibete tackle, so for the sake of fairness the Wallabies winger gave the All Blacks the same experience on Thursday in the Bledisloe Cup first Test.
Koroibete tracked a kick into the All Blacks’ 22 in the first half in Melbourne like a tracer bullet and smashed All Blacks wing Caleb Clarke, who more or less had a standing start. It was a massive tackle, but then again so was his on Makazole Mapimpi in round three of the Rugby Championship a few weeks ago, and it does not make either legal.
The former NRL star was slated after the first Test against the Springboks for his hit on Mapimpi for not wrapping his arms in the tackle, and it looks as though he did the exact same against the All Blacks.
Though he approached the ball carrier from different angles, both tackles are actually quite similar. Koroibete clearly does have his arms up perhaps with the intention of wrapping on both occasions, however, once the initial contact is made there is no further attempt to wrap his arms. Some might say that this is because he hits the players so hard that they are knocked backwards. While that is maybe true, there is still no effort to wrap around the player. In fact, his tackle on Clarke actually finished with him pushing the All Black to the ground, which is pretty clear evidence that he never wrapped his arms at all.
The Wallaby got away with both tackles, but he is starting to build a reputation that he will not want for being a dangerous tackler. This does look like something he could remedy very quickly though…
Take a look at his tackle on Clarke:
Koroibete goes 💥
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