Recently there is a worrying trend that has started to creep back into rugby, and after years of hard work by the IRB to prevent injuries in the front row by constantly looking at ways to reduce broken necks in scrums, it is concerning to see that this is no longer reserved for the front row. Those who follow rugby should be aware of two of the more recent high profile injuries; that of Joe Ansbro, who was forced to retire in the summer of 2013 having spent the whole season recovering from a broken neck in a pre season friendly in August of 2012. The second being the Canadian player Judah Campbell, who broke his neck after landing on it during a tackle.
Both players broke their necks in tackles, in Joe’s case it was him diving in to get a ball and during the contact “He’s got a triple fracture of the C1 vertebrae at the top of his spine,” and that “He was really lucky that it was what they call a stable fracture and there’s no nerve damage. That was the thing they were most concerned about; Joe’s still got movement in his hands and feet.”
In Judah’s case “In the game Judah was tackled and he landed on his neck. His neck was broken and his spinal cord was severely damaged. The breaks were in the C4 and C5 vertebrae and the C4 was also pushed forward, collapsing on the spinal cord and the C5 vertebrae. Judah was instantly paralyzed and had no movement or feeling from the neck down.”
Anybody watching rugby will be keenly aware of the ferocity of the tackles that now exist in the game, just watch Courtney Lawes, and the dangerous tip tackle, where a player is tipped passed 90 degrees and is then landing on or close to their neck/head. The later is something the IRB have tried to address by making this illegal and making it a red card offence no matter how deliberate the intent was, you can just ask Sam Warburton how tough this stance was. The problem is that at the top flight the referees are starting to go soft on this and only awarding yellow cards, and I understand the intent but the problem is it is letting a bad example shine through.
At the lower levels of rugby where referees often don’t have the advantage of linesmen, let alone television replay, it is even harder for them to have the eyes to be able to spot incidents that don’t directly involve the ball carrier. Over the last two years in games that I have been involved in there have been a number of very different instances and it is very concerning how common tipping is at the breakdown and how common it is for a player to be carded for lifting a leg during the tackle. One instance in particular demonstrated how poorly some referees have been advised of the changes, a player of mine was picked up and turned 180 degrees and dropped directly on his head, the referee pinged him for not releasing, awarded a penalty and let the opposition take a quick tap whilst he lay unconscious on the ground having been knocked out by the blow, very fortunate that that was the only injury. When discussing with the referee involved, her interpretation was that the player did not drill ours into the ground and as such there was no foul play.
All this has done is highlight the significant lack of training some referees have, either by choice, some just don’t seem to care what the law states and will always interpret it their way, and others who really do care, haven’t been pulled up by assessors and given a proper explanation of the laws. Even Nigel Owens, considered the best in the game, even by me, confesses not to have read the law book.
Now by way of chance more than anything else, I am related through marriage to the last England player to break his neck during an International which was way back in 1967 and his name was Danny Hearn. Danny was considered one of the game’s greatest crash tacklers, and tackle technique that was banned very soon after his injury. What is worrying about this type of technique is that it does not appear that today’s referees are not aware of this tackle and it’s potential threats, Courtney Lawes’ technique resembles the crash tackle very closely sometimes.
The point of this blog is not to criticize referees but to highlight the simple fact that broken necks are no longer the preserve of the front rows and that incidents at the breakdown need so much more attention and the referees need so much more support and training to ensure that this new trend does not become common place. The ferocity of the game now really demands that we as a sport respond more swiftly and decisively to protect our players and the sports reputation.
Links to stories quoted in the is article:
Nigel Owens – http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx
Judah Campbell – https://www.facebook.com/judahcampbellrecovery
Joe Ansboro – http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/19389539
