Oi! Oi! Oi!
Re: meercat: What do you mean is too late when it appears? Were you onside to begin with? Here's a tip: try and stay onside all the time (i.e. 10m+ back from the last play the ball), then when the ball is played, you can begin moving towards whoever has got the ball. When you tackle them, it's ideal to be in front of the ball carrier so they have to run around you (and take longer), allowing you to have ample time to tackle them.
If you're good and use sprint as well, you can often tackle the first receiver before they run more than 5 few metres ahead of the last play the ball..