Skinner and Cecillon - the tackle

Mickey 'the Munch' Skinner tackles Marc Cecillon early in the second half of the 1991 RWC quarter final in Paris, a game of considerable tension and not a little confrontation. England had set out with the intention of roughing up the French to put them off their game, and it worked. Brian Moore's most memorable game - according to his autobiography.
As if the tackle wasn't enough, I like the way the England front row hit the ensuing ruck as a unit and clear out the entire French pack.
See also,
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugb...

[@RichThePirate]

Skinner, Teague and Winterbottom were, and still are, a vastly underrated back row!

[@mattmccann8805]

Not by me! They were absolute quality.

[@LockedDownSpectator]

The sound like a band of notorious pirates!

[@user-cn3zq2zu2o]

Mate, I'm Welsh and this is one of the most legendary back rows ever

[@oliverhunter9495]

Skinner was bang average in a seriously good pack. But as a unit it really worked. Teague and Winterbottom where leagues above him, Jon Hall was the pick of the bunch when he played

[@dan32113]

thankyou for putting this clip up, i haven"t seen it in full since 1991, a brutal game. Skinners tackle was immense, it was a dirty game, but we came through!

[@shinystones]

Mickey, you hero! All man!

[@andymoffitt6691]

Hang on mate, these guys were epic, world class in anyone’s book and rated by, of all people , the All Blacks…

[@RichThePirate]

you didn't have to be back then, as long as you stayed at the back foot. scrum half was also allowed to dummy from the base to try and catch you offside, which isn't allowed now.

[@orac54]

I was there. What a bloody game that was. I hadn't seen Wints' kick at the guy's head before - a bit cheap, that. Man of the match that day: Laurent Cabannes

[@Jackcantsleepful]

I was ten, I think this is why I got into rugby. My nose is now in the wrong part of my face.

[@adambrace5127]

I feel you brother. Familiar.

[@clitering]

When you look at that scrum now it’s amazing how little player safety was a priority, not to mention what went on in the rucks. That said I was 20 then and playing twice a week and adored it. Mind you, I wasn’t a forward, which helped. Played against a few of the England boys and the scariest, probably because of reputation, was Dooley. All the size and menace but no brains and back then had plenty of opportunities - and latitude - to get in cheap shot after cheap shot

[@MadMarchTaffy]

And to think that he was a policeman....

[@grahamnoble4887]

Hope you smacked Dooley around a bit, Bridget.

[@clitering]

@@grahamnoble4887 They build women tough in NZ

[@bennyhill2073]

Wade Dooley what a machine.

[@johnodonnell9729]

Those were the days.....

[@chisterax2013]

at that time, frenches could not win those games. Bishop definitely chose the winner of the day, nothing else to say. Knowing this, we should have play savage no matter the consequences.

[@graemestarkey7524]

France dished out a lot of their own - as they often did at the time.

[@norvegicusbass]

Mick Skinner was a neighbour of mine in West Denton Newcastle. His mother used to tell me he was on telly when he was playing for Quins so i wouldnt miss it

[@georgelooney53]

What happened to that brilliant blindside stop by skinner on st andre when he picked him up,carried him ten yards,dumped him into touch?can anyone upload?

[@inmos35]

My favourite tackle

[@xpat73]

@superjb64 In those days it was legal for flankers to break from the scrum early, as long as they retreated onside behind the No8's feet (or the try line). They have changed the law since then so that you cannot slip your bind like that.....Cecillion should have gone left not right...

[@chrisandrews8073]

oh me oh my, how rugby should be played......Teague was my favourite but what a team England had and should of won the final.....

[@jfrost1942]

agree.. if it wasn't for a campese intentional knock on we would have won the final

[@glennpells9712]

Those were the days.

[@SupremeBros2012]

During that sustained pressure on the England line, I remembered thinking that if France scored then, they would go on to beat the English, but in the end, they scored shortly afterwards but ended up losing..The English capitalised on the temper of the French and the French swallowed the bait...I wonder how the game would have changed had Berbizier and Camberabero been playing that day...Berbizier had a way of ensuring discipline

[@lardinhoredbeard5089]

YEAH i watched that as an England fan thinkng "we've got a better scrum, better ruck, better counter ruck, better forwards and Jeremy Guscott" so England was always going to win.

[@itchycooable]

such a tense game , i think this was the one where the ref. was assaulted in the tunnel at the end , by ondarts ?

[@xpat73]

Yes - but it was by Dubroca the coach.

[@xpat73]

It’s funny people complaining about the ref. ENGLAND beat France in every game between March 1989 and Feb 1995. At this time they were simply a better side.

[@bg365]

Ah, the good old days. Winterbottom casually kicks a trapped player in the head, all quite acceptable back in the day…

[@xpat73]

it's in this clip

[@xpat73]

The reason that the French lost this game is that they didn't play their usual running game at the time - they tried to go toe to toe with England up front - and really that played into the English hands. England had a limited game plan, win lineouts and kick for position and wait for the French to give away penalties. It worked.

[@axvuyg9218]

You're so right... The English planned a real good trap and the French felt in it... (I don't know if my words are real English.... Sorry...)

[@rhurbstafalcon4807]

I'm sitting here in 2022 watching this and let me tell you that if iur backs hadnt been so girly we would have dominated rugby union .....that pack was as good if not better than anyone else....my favourite pack selection ever....

[@richardtaylor9483]

That tackle hurt the commentator more than the player.

[@astrebleu12]

it's not skinner ( number 6 i believe) but rather the number 7 , Winterbottom?

[@georgelooney53]

Too long ago to remember..sure it was in Paris,happened in the first few minutes,remember it kept st andre quiet for the rest of the game,England won of course! Great hit by the munch!

[@xpat73]

Has- the French are complaining about the ref? England has beaten France three times in a row by the time this game was played.

[@zisssssou]

the kick from the english number 7 summarizes perfectly this match. The tension was immense. English had an excellent defence but gave an incredible numbers of cheapshots (Blanco shoulders still remember...), never sanctionned and french players lost their nerves as usual

[@xpat73]

Well the game was dirty back then. Blanco and Champ should have been sent off in the first 5 minutes for their cowardly assault on Heslop. The game was just just violent back then.

[@graemestarkey7524]

@@xpat73 would have finished at 10 a side today.

[@matthewvarney6214]

Fringing like a boss

[@zisssssou]

and i won't comment about this ref... i think he is officially persona non-grata in the whole south-west of France :)

[@xpat73]

By the time this game came around England had beaten France three times in a row....including a slaughtering in Paris the year before. So it's not like France had a better team.......they didn't. In fact France did not beat England until the 1995 World Cup...they lost EIGHT games in a row to England.

[@chriscontrare]

Winterbottom did'nt have much speed but he was has hard as nails.

[@chanctonbury63]

@zisssssou Daniel Dubroca the French coach caught up with the ref in the tunnel after the game and pinned him up against the wall by his neck. He was not unsurprisingly sacked for that!

[@acasacas9844]

18 stone of pure Geordie manhood

[@kevinholtom1966]

Loved peter winterbottoms commitment but he loved a scrap too much 👍

[@zisssssou]

@77kraxx bishop was a terrible and biased ref. but in a certain way, he wasn't helped by the 2 sides. dubroca was sacked after the match because of an agression attempt on the ref, 2 frenchies were sent off, and of course every english cheapshoters weren't sanctionned ;)

[@axisfolate4300]

No mate. The two French were sent off in 1992 by Stephen Hilditch. Both deserved it that day, but Winterbottom's kick here is bang out of order even for 1991.

[@GaMeRzbOyzz]

Who would do the same move again and again

[@xpat73]

It's at 1:33

[@xpat73]

I think you mean the hit on Marc Cecillon the French No. 8, there was no such hit on St. Andre in this match.

[@henguspod3899]

mick the munch

[@cardigan3000]

should have been a penalty for teague clearly breaking early from the scrum

[@softwareofexcellence]

That was legal in those days. Skinner broke early too to make the tackle.

[@Nieghorn]

+cardigan3000 Accidental offside / obstruction in the maul at :20 :)

[@cocricklewood4441]

The back row were allowed to break from a scrum back then, however once broke? You cannot rejoin if your scrum is going backwards

[@chanctonbury63]

Cecillon was probably better than Skinner with a gun, but here, unarmed, he comes a distant second.

[@sid18208]

idiot!

[@axvuyg9218]

You should talk about what you known...

[@kenrehill8775]

He shot his wife didn’t he?

[@adambrace5127]

turned the match

[@glenntilbrook7328]

A tackle that cost England a world cup. Had it not happened, Richards would not have been omitted.

[@xpat73]

What are you talking about? Richards was off form and was dropped for this 1/4 final....so he was dropped before this tackle.

[@xpat73]

Today Winterbottom would have been cited and missed the semi and final. Skinner would have been cited for a "dangerous tackle" and banned for life. ;)

[@graemestarkey7524]

As woould more than one French player.

[@rdgrdg1632]

That is exactly why rugby is shit now

[@sid18208]

English players collapse the maul!!!! The referee can't see that ?

[@iangrubb6470]

Errr....I think you'll find it was allowed in those days. But then you probably weren't even born then. This was proper Rugby.

[@didierc.2708]

Et jou tabé

[@Charlie8eee]

hes my mates dad! hahahaha

[@77kraxx]

bishop was a fucking bad referee during this game

[@xpat73]

no

[@pragma5475]

il y a des arbitres qui n auraient jamais du exister...de vrais charognes

[@jack.charlesc4750]

Referees were biased for years and years ........ In football it was mr pool ......Thierry Rolland 😉 Then professionnalism came and things went better

[@superjb64]

What a Shame, 2 big fault in 2min, the kick in the face and look the flankers are totaly out of the scrum, easy to tacle Cecillon on this way..

[@xpat73]

you don't know the rules. that was legal in 1991.

[@fatbuddhafitness]

I believe Skinner should really have been penalised for not binding...

[@graemestarkey7524]

Under the rules of the time this was legal.

[@MrT67]

@@graemestarkey7524 No. He wasn't even bound when the ball went in.

[@willlawrence6632]

Was he bound on?

[@MrT67]

Wasn't even bound when the ball went in.

[@r.cjones1515]

The French are just getting their comeuppance for all the years of cowardly cheap shots from behind that they were known for

[@keithmccormack9182]

2 minutes 23 seconds of nothing

[@JackoJ15]

Not a rugby fan eh? Bless your simple mind.

[@babaza1972]

Glad it wasted 2 mins & 23 seconds of your life then sweetcheeks!

[@carlgarner9807]

You clearly don't know rugby.

[@simontaylor305]

Stop fretting about this that and the other try and win the world Cup ps I'm welsh

[@jamestrevelyan3912]

Cecillon later murdered his wife.

[@axvuyg9218]

That's why Winterbottom tried to kill him first ??This makes no sense...

[@amilsomrodrigues4954]

good demo of tradicional and unnecessary french dirty play

[@trevortreverson3049]

Mick the Munch, was not has good has he thought he was

[@maxwellfan55]

French humiliation big time, they are so much better disciplined now. It all started from here.