Former England enforcer Courtney Lawes has waded into the debate around player safety, arguing that rugby needs to embrace its “dangerous” nature.
Writing in a column for the Times UK, Lawes argued that professional rugby is being harmed by an over-emphasis on player safety from the game’s governing bodies.
The loose forward, who played over 100 Tests for England before retiring from international rugby after the 2023 World Cup, built a reputation as one of modern rugby’s toughest players.
“Rugby has become an easy target for ill-informed critics,” Lawes wrote. “Someone needs to stand up for the virtues of the sport because those in charge, spooked by legal cases from a different era, are too busy playing a public relations game to realise the damage being done and the opportunities missed.
“We don’t have time to wait. Rugby, especially in England, has been hit pretty hard over this past year with the loss of three Premiership clubs. The quicker we can get rugby on the up, the less damage is going to come from it.
“Rugby is a dangerous game and people like that. The fan favourites are always the players most willing to put their bodies on the line for the shirt, for the team. That is what people want to see from professional rugby players.
“People love the big hits and off-the-ball scraps, especially as they are always followed by players shaking hands after the game and going back to being mates. That is what rugby is. That is what makes rugby a great game and we need to start being unapologetic about that.
“The sport is tying itself in knots by dishing out red and yellow cards for split-second misjudgments in a tackle, no doubt because of the lawsuit that is working its way through the high court.
“No one is saying we want players running around taking each other’s heads off. But people want to see a hard, fair game of rugby that is intensely physical and also legal.”
Honest conversations.
As we make our game safer than ever we can’t forget our point of difference. Sport is entertainment. Entertainment is about wowing fans and the world. Speed. Power with physical attributes that not everyone has. Like it or not. That’s the truth. pic.twitter.com/Lw6xCUrGc8— Jim Hamilton (@jimhamilton4) February 15, 2024
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