A new South African research paper has provided the first global evidence that regulating both tackle height and ball carrier behaviour has the potential to not only lower head-contact, but also reduce catastrophic head and neck injuries in rugby.
The study, led by SA Rugby’s BokSmart safety programme, analysed catastrophic injury interactions in front-on tackles – where ball carriers and tacklers meet directly. These tackles were found to pose the highest risk, accounting for 71% of tackler and 53% of ball carrier catastrophic head and neck injuries recorded between 2008 and 2023.
“Since it became a penalty to tackle above the sternum in amateur rugby, and with ball carriers no longer allowed to bend themselves head-first into contact, we’ve seen encouraging changes in the injury data,” said Dr Wayne Viljoen, SA Rugby’s Senior Manager for Rugby Safety and BokSmart.
The Law trials, introduced in schools and clubs locally at the start of the 2024 season, were developed with input from South Africa’s catastrophic injury data, making them uniquely evidence-driven within the World Rugby framework.
“It is too early to make categorical claims, but early signs suggest we are on the right track. The laws appear to be reducing the risk of these rare but devastating injuries, without taking away from the physicality of the game,” Viljoen added.
Early analysis shows that since implementation, most front-on tackle cases had the ball carrier more upright, which shows positive behaviour change, and nearly all serious front-on tackle-related incidents were ‘near misses’, non-permanent injuries where players recovered. The only permanent front-on tackle injuries occurred when ball carriers went in too low, and there has only been a few.
Viljoen stressed that lowering the tackle alone is not a “silver bullet”: “Laws must be paired with player behaviour guidelines and good coaching of safe techniques for both tacklers and ball carriers,” he said. “We will continue to monitor injury data and await further research from our University of Cape Town partners on how these changes affect the shape of the game and the tackle-contest.”
The full study driving the ball carrier Law change showed that:
- There was one permanent catastrophic tackle-related spinal injury for every 291,897 participating players (0.34 per 100,000 players)
- There was one permanent catastrophic tackle-related traumatic brain injury for every 440,820 participating players (0.23 per 100,000 players).
- Low ball carrier body positions into contact significantly increased risk for both players, with permanent tackler-injuries twice as likely when ball carriers entered head-first and parallel to the ground.