The beast is back. Manu Tuilagi will not face any disciplinary action after being cited in Leicesters defeat to Munster. This got me thinking. Is the game too soft? Are there now too many limitations? Can referees manage more consistently? In a time of scrutiny over injury, is Rugby doing enough to ensure player safety?
For a long time now Rugby has had an issue regarding concussion and general injury. In an attempt to lessen these issues new tackle laws were brought in and enforced more than in previous years. The idea behind this was to limit the number of high tackles therefore limiting the number of head injuries in the game.
Although it is vitally important that something is done to help decrease the number of concussions per season, there is only so much that can be done. It feels that players are no longer allowed to tackle near the shoulder area at all. This promotes tackling around the hips and knees which actually leads to a higher chance of concussion for the tackler. An example of this is Sam Underhill.
The way that sam Underhill plays and tackles means that he is very prone to concussion. He picked one up playing for England against Australia in the autumn and still hasn't passed the return to play protocol. The fact that this protocol is in place and players aren't being rushed back into playing shows how much head injuries are understood now. There used to be a time when Rugby players didn't understand head injuries and would just play on without them.
Rugby has progressed a lot since this time. Despite this there is still more that can be done. Although it is great that so much is being done, I think that there needs to be a greater level of consistency amongst referees when managing high tackles. It seems that this is the only way of managing the issue as at the moment different referees will penalise for something that another wouldn't. This seems unfair and risks damaging the quality Rugby has of respect for the referee.
Let me know what you think about this by commenting below. For more Rugby news subscribe and click here.
For a long time now Rugby has had an issue regarding concussion and general injury. In an attempt to lessen these issues new tackle laws were brought in and enforced more than in previous years. The idea behind this was to limit the number of high tackles therefore limiting the number of head injuries in the game.
Although it is vitally important that something is done to help decrease the number of concussions per season, there is only so much that can be done. It feels that players are no longer allowed to tackle near the shoulder area at all. This promotes tackling around the hips and knees which actually leads to a higher chance of concussion for the tackler. An example of this is Sam Underhill.
Rugby has progressed a lot since this time. Despite this there is still more that can be done. Although it is great that so much is being done, I think that there needs to be a greater level of consistency amongst referees when managing high tackles. It seems that this is the only way of managing the issue as at the moment different referees will penalise for something that another wouldn't. This seems unfair and risks damaging the quality Rugby has of respect for the referee.
Let me know what you think about this by commenting below. For more Rugby news subscribe and click here.
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