Rugby careers can be cut short before they have even started due to injury and the broken neck suffered by Western Province age group player JD Schickerling is a stark reminder of how quickly and easily this can happen.
JD has always been a standout youngster and represented SA Schools and the Baby Boks. Standing 2.02 meters in his socks and weighing in at 108kg’s before a good meal, he has all the attributes to develop into a world class lock forward and has progressed through all the early phases of development in South African rugby, with his career highlight surely representing South Africa in the 2014 version of the Junior Rugby World Cup held in New Zealand.
All of this early promise came to a sudden halt on Saturday 30 August in an age group game between the Under-21 age group teams of Western Province and Blue Bulls. On receiving a kick-in, he was firstly thundered into by Irne Herbst, with no arms being used in the tackle. Bulls captain Marvin Orbie then pulled him back in a headlock. Whilst the actions of both Bulls locks are in the realm of foul play, their actions are not dissimilar to what we see in rugby games every single weekend. What is unfortunate for all the players involved, most specifically for Schickerling, was this sequence of events created the “perfect storm” which lead to this serious injury.
The clip below shows how this incident played out.
Schickerling was stretchered off the field in the fourth minute of the game and immediately hospitalized. He underwent surgery to his neck and a metal plate has been inserted to relieve pressure on his spinal cord. The good news is that the surgery has been successful and he has started to regain feeling in his hands and feet. Miraculously, he has been given the prognosis of being able to return to the game after a year on the sidelines.
Orbie was cited for his headlock tackle and banned for one week, but how blame is attributed to him solely is curious.
What is of particular concern though is the frequency with which players are handled around the neck with no sanction from the officials. Consider the number of times when a player tries to effect a turnover by making a tackle and holding his opponent up. Many players make the mistake of taking a grip around the neck of the opponent. In an even more concerning example we take a look at the ruck clean out. When a player is trying to effect a turnover, an opposing player will try to clear them off the ball by grabbing them around the torso and twisting them sideways and away from the ball. It is frightening to observe how many times the grip is around the neck and not the upper torso and one wonders how long it will be before a player is injured in this way?
Here’s wishing JD a speedy and full recovery!
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