With the RFU having announced plans to enforce waist-height tackling in amateur rugby across England, talks of World Rugby following suit are doing the rounds. Is this law change going to do more harm than good?
In effect from 1 July 2023, all players at age grade and senior amateur level in England will be required to make waistline or lower tackles. This comes shortly after a group of 55 players from the amateur era reportedly sent a letter of claim to World Rugby, the WRU and the RFU to launch their lawsuit over possible brain injuries.
With segments of the media driving the perception that rugby is unsafe beyond some undefined threshold and that there is a ‘concussion crisis’, the law is part of a movement to make rugby a sport that showcases fewer big collisions. The decision has been met with a flurry of outrage, not to mention the counter-productive results of recent attempts to lower tackle height in the professional ranks.
An RFU statement cites evidence from commissioned studies that show a higher volume of head impacts and increased risk of concussion when the tackle height is above the waist
In contrast, many believe the game’s physicality is being unnecessarily compromised in the name of safety, and that renewed attempts to lower the tackle height will lead to even more head-related injuries as the likelihood of players taking a knee to the head increases.
Is lowering the tackle height an important step to reduce the risk of injury, or an unnecessary safety measure in reaction to exaggerated risk assessments of the game?