The Rugby Thread

Pross

It must be very difficult to tackle below the waist when the ball carrier is coming head on and dipping the shoulder.

secretsqirrel

Never played so looking to those who know. How will a maul be formed, do have to tackle high enough hold the player up?

pblakeney

secretsqirrel said:

Never played so looking to those who know. How will a maul be formed, do have to tackle high enough hold the player up?

I’d have to guess that the maul’s days are numbered.

laurentian

Pross said:

Is the tackle rule change just an RFU thing? It’s going to be odd on an international stage if their players are tackling differently to everyone else. Getting down that low is also going to be a challenge for tall players tackling short players head on and it also puts the tackler at higher risk of getting a knee in the head.

I assume the rule will be fairly loosely enforced with the aim of ensuring tackles stay well below the shoulders.

It’s good that head injuries are being taken seriously and governing bodies are looking to make changes to reduce risk but I’m not convinced this helps much.

The law change is just an RFU thing in England. However, it only applies outside of "elite" rugby. It has been "imposed" on the "community game" so, for the time being, it does not apply to the International game.

As a player and committee member of our club, the thing that really grates with me is a complete lack of consultation with the "community game" prior to its imposition.

The data from largely French studies suggests that a lowering of the tackle height will see a reduction in head on head impacts and therefore lead to a reduction on concussion from them. This is all well and good and moves to make the game safer should be welcome but it is the total lack of engagement with those that will be affected that is the reason for my ire.

The elite game is, and has been for some time, very different from the rugby that I play week - in - week - out and it seems that we, playing the "normal" game of rugby are being forced down a particular line due to the incidents of concussion in a game that we have very little conection with.

One of the premises for the change mentioned by the RFU is that rugby is primarily a game of "evasion". A single photograph of our front row would demonstrate that we are not built for "evasion" . . . and there are thousands of us who play every week to who this is a fundamental change in the game we play.

I detest the phrase "grassroots". There's rugby and there's elite rugby. It's not grassroots rugby, it's rugby and I wish the RFU would understand this and consult accordingly.

ddraver

Very good points.

Come to think of it I think I can only remember two genuine issues with concussion that I ever saw and that was two players on the same team who ran into each other.

(14 and 15 going for a high ball...)

laurentian

secretsqirrel said:

Never played so looking to those who know. How will a maul be formed, do have to tackle high enough hold the player up?

Also, how do you clear out a jackler from the ruck?

Pross

ddraver said:

Very good points.

Come to think of it I think I can only remember two genuine issues with concussion that I ever saw and that was two players on the same team who ran into each other.

(14 and 15 going for a high ball...)

I got concussed once. I was playing on the wing, some big lump of a forward broke through in midfield and thought he was clean through to the line. He hadn't seen me coming in from the wing so I went in hard and quite high (chest height) to wrap the ball up as well. Just as I was about to make contact he saw me coming and dropped his shoulder catching me full on the jaw and I was out cold for a few seconds. First thing I asked when I came around was whether I'd stopped him (I had!) and I watched the rest of the match from the sidelines with an interesting green haze before someone thought I ought to go for a check up at A&E.

Under these laws I can't work out if he would have been red carded for making contact with the head, I would have been red carded for tackling above the wasit or both!

Pross

Good old WRU showing their competence after allegations of sexism and misogyny by banning Delilah being sung at the stadium.

blazing_saddles

Pross said:

Good old WRU showing their competence after allegations of sexism and misogyny by banning Delilah being sung at the stadium.

The WRU once again highlighting their inability to get to the heart of any problem.

Pross

Proper rugby tonight with Pontypool winning their local derby 49-7 to make it 11 bonus point wins from 11 league matches this season. I can’t remember the last time I watched a live match under lights, it’s been years though.

It was a bit of an odd last 10 minutes with the opposition picking up 3 yellow cards in a few minutes before there was a bit of handbags leading to one home player getting a yellow and an opposition player with a red leaving them with 11 players on the pitch. I think the ref had enough and blew up slightly early. Second half was terrible TBH.

Pross

It’s going to be an embarrassing few weeks ahead for Welsh rugby.

Pross

Wales could be back in this match if they’d sort out their handling. Loads of chances in this second half but poor passing, knock ons and poor support running. Ireland really gone off the boil.

This contact with the head stuff is getting ridiculous now. How you can avoid it when you’re a metre away from someone who falls into you is beyond me.

ddraver

That's erm...a rather scary performance from Ireland considering they never really kicked on...

Pross

Didn’t think they were that good after the first half hour. It felt like they would switch back on if Wales got back into it on the scoreboard but any team with some composure would have scored a lot more points.

gethinceri

Gatland couldn’t lose. Poor performance from Wales, not a great performance from Ireland.
Not a bad match to watch.

Pross

Bit of hyperbole on that try. It was a good run and first tackle break with a nice step but after that it was just 3 poor missed tackles.

blazing_saddles

S Africa just scored an incredible try against England.

Regarding Wales, the International side is finally performing like the regional sides.
Bottom of the pile for the foreseeable future.

ddraver

Save that England try to show your junior rugby side...

Pross

ITV commentary as bad as ever. I know BBC isn’t exactly brilliant these days but still way better than this (until they hand over to Sonia for the post-match interviews).

Pross

That final pass looked a bit forward.

blazing_saddles

So, not a day for new (or returning) coaches.
A pulsating match. Don’t fancy our chances against either.

ddraver

So, we sack Steve now, right?

That's how it works...?

wavefront

What a great Scotland vs England game , even if you ignore the score. But as I'm not ignoring the score....... Yes! Scotland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Especially at Twickenham. Yes!

Pross

Good game that one.

Wales look like they’ll be hoping for a win away in Rome to avoid a whitewash and I’m not convinced they’ll get it. They looked like a team that haven’t played together.

kingstongraham

England should introduce lower tackling at the elite level.

Pross

For that first van der Merwe try any kind of tackling would have helped.

orraloon

Snigger. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿😊

pblakeney

Pross said:

For that first van der Merwe try any kind of tackling would have helped.

You want to tell Gareth Edwards that. 😉
That applies to all long range tries.

Pross

pblakeney said:

Pross said:

For that first van der Merwe try any kind of tackling would have helped.

You want to tell Gareth Edwards that. 😉
That applies to all long range tries.

Not necessarily, a lot of them the player steps and jinks away from the defence. On that try he ran through three tacklers who should have stopped him.

pblakeney

Pross said:

pblakeney said:

Pross said:

For that first van der Merwe try any kind of tackling would have helped.

You want to tell Gareth Edwards that. 😉
That applies to all long range tries.

Not necessarily, a lot of them the player steps and jinks away from the defence. On that try he ran through three tacklers who should have stopped him.

Okay, you want to go face to face with those 3 players and tell them that? 😉