In our new Top 20 feature, Brendan Gallagher rates the magic moments when defence thwarted promising attacks.
Before we get things underway with Part Three, read who preceded this list:
Here, Brendan brings things to a close by counting down from 6 to the ultimate of No.1…
1 Sam Underhill – on Scott Williams for England against Wales in 2018.
No matter how many times you look at this tackle there is no way that Sam Underhill should ever be able to stop the Wales centre from scoring in the corner. In that respect it is not just “another incredible tackle” it is a miracle tackle and that for me sets it apart.
It's a filthy, cold, wet, wintry day at Twickenham and England and Wales are knocking seven bells out of each other as per usual. England made a fast start with two tries for Jonny May but, as the weather deteriorated, they couldn't ram home the advantage and Wales were inching their way back into contention.
On the half hour, just 12-3 down, Wales attack from 50 metres out through Gareth Anscombe and suddenly from nowhere it was a four on two overlap down the blindside. Quick hands from Aaron Shingler, Hadleigh Parks and Ken Owens sent centre Williams sprinting for the line from about 18 metres.
The powerful Williams pinned his ears back and – with the ground sodden and slippery and seemingly unchallenged – he launched his textbook dive along the ground from about three yards from the line. It looked for all money a try and 999 times out of 1,000 it would have been. But not on this occasion. Sam Underhill was on the case.
Let's first backtrack five or six seconds. As Wales are building their attack some 40 metres out, when Anscombe passes to Shingler, Underhill slips. His immediate reaction is to bounce straight back up and, showing the instinctive understanding of the natural born rugby player, he sets off like an Olympic sprinter for the corner flag.
Low, squat, powerful, he blasts out of the blocks. Underhill is really quick when the situation calls for it, we saw that again later in 2018 when he skinned Beauden Barrett on the outside for a brilliant touchdown that was alas disallowed when it was deemed by the TMO that earlier in the move Courtney Lawes had been offside.
Underhill knows his slip means he cannot immediately challenge any of the Welsh ball carriers, the only contribution he can make is to corner flag like never before in his life. Do that and he might just arrive on the scene in time to contribute. He is a product of Sir Thomas Rich's School, Gloucester, whose motto is Gare te foy. Keep the faith!
As he angles in on the corner flag the chances are still extremely slim. He knows Williams will dive low and early and aquaplane in.
There is no chance of making any sort of conventional tackle and almost no chance of attacking the ball and dislodging it from Williams' grasp like the famous George Gregan tackle on Jeff Wilson which I have placed second in this list. Somehow, against the odds, he must get the big Wales centre into touch.
Underhill also knows he is not going to get enough of Williams to put in a big physical hit, he has got to use their combined momentum and somehow flip him over judo-style.
And here we must doff a cap towards Eddie Jones who copped an enormous amount of flak earlier in 2018 when superb young Wasps flanker Sam Jones was forced to retire from the game after a hideous double fracture of the leg and ankle incurred 18 months earlier during judo practice at England training.
It should never be allowed, it was irresponsible the critics wailed, and that argument still rumbles on a little, but there is no question that judo-style tackles are part of the modern game and came into play on this occasion.
Underhill has to go in very low and early and he targets Williams' waist when the massive temptation is to leave it a fraction later and go for the ball. That would have been too late and if he made clumsy contact with the head or neck it would be a penalty try anyway.
Instead he somehow grabs part of Williams' lower torso with his right arm and flips him over onto his back and then into touch. And remember all this is happening in a blur.
There's a lovely cameo as dejected Williams gets up which I missed at the time. Just for a fraction of a second, open mouthed, he looks at Underhill who is hurrying away for the lineout. You can read his mind exactly. “How did he do that?” Indeed!
2 George Gregan – on Jeff Wilson for Australia against New Zealand August 1994
Wilson was gliding in for one of the tries of the season – inside, outside, dummy, surge of power and swallow dive for the line – when he was hit by the exocet that was the young Gregan. The Aussie scrum-half was canny as well though. There was no way he could stop Wilson getting over the line, his only hope was to hit him so hard in the midriff where Wilson was carrying the ball with his right hand that he spilled it forward. I had seen him pull off such moves before at the Hong Kong Sevens, it was a speciality of his, but this tackle clinched the Bledisloe Cup, Australia winning 20-16.
3 Richie Mo'unga – on Cheslin Kolbe for New Zealand against South Africa at RWC2019
It was very close between the old rivals in their pool game last year and against the run of play New Zealand were leading with two typical breakout tries. Suddenly the irrepressible Kolbe gathered a high ball and weaved his way down the right touchline before hitting the turbos. Just one man – Mo'unga – stood in his way. Kolbe, using all his Sevens running skills,was at full tilt and swerved in and out to ‘stand up' Mo'unga before going on the outside again. Incredibly Mo'unga, who had been slowed in his tracks, hit the burners himself and flew over 20 yards or so to cut Kolbe down short of the line.
4 Josh Lewsey – on Jean de Villiers for England against South Africa 2006
De Villiers intercepted Charlie Hodgson's pass 70 metres out and sprinted for the line for what appeared a simple run-in. Only Lewsey gave chase but he bided his time on the angle almost getting past de Villiers so he could get some forward and sideways force into the tackle. He also subtly offered the outside by angling his shoulders infield as if covering or even inviting an inside pass to Akona Ndungane. Lewsey delayed, delayed, delayed and then, when reaching for the line was de Villiers' only option, hit him like a thunderclap forcing a foot into touch. England won 23-21.
5 Peter Stringer – on Dan Luger for Ireland against England at Lansdowne Road in October 2001
The flying England wing looked clean through and was seemingly yards ahead of the Ireland scrum-half but somehow the 5ft 7in Stringer, never giving up on the chase, launched himself full length across the ground to just flick Luger's back foot on the Ireland 22. Luger stumbled and fell to ground. “That tackle won us the game, it's as simple as that,” said skipper Keith Wood. Ireland won 20-14.
