Rugby Australia organises summit with GPS headmasters after spinal injuries

CONCERNED Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle will oversee a summit meeting of the nine GPS schools as anxious parents demand safer rugby for their kids.

CONCERNED Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle will oversee a summit meeting of the nine GPS schools as anxious parents demand safer rugby for their kids.

Traumatic neck injuries to four schoolboy players in just over a month have spread tears and concern among a rattled GPS rugby community.

Castle has spoken personally to the four families dealing with the spinal issues, including yesterday’s phone call with the father of hospitalised Nudgee College winger Alexander Clark, 15.

Alexander Clark. Picture: Channel 7

Father Paul Clark told Castle he held no ill feeling for and did not blame rugby after his son’s serious neck injury suffered as he was tackled and tumbled awkwardly in scoring a try last Saturday.

Nudgee College headmaster Peter Fullagar said on Monday Clark’s recovery may be a “long journey” but “he is communicating, alert and in remarkable spirits.”

“Mr and Mrs Clark have emphasised to me their support for the game of rugby, their empathy for the boys involved in the tackle, and their understanding that this was a tragic accident,” Fullagar said.

The positive update after Clark’s emergency surgery and Toowoomba Grammar’s Ollie Bierhoff walking out of hospital are some relief heading into a meeting of school rugby directors and headmasters with Rugby Australia.

“We are constantly working on measures to make the game safe and when boys and girls are involved you err on the side of safety,” Castle said.

“The reality is that it’s been 10 years since we’ve had a significant injury in schoolboy rugby and the fact that we’ve had a cluster in GPS is something that we’re concerned about.

“We can never guarantee safety 100 per cent. It doesn’t matter what sport or what activity you do, there’s always a risk that you can get injured. We know that but we’ve done everything we can to make sure it’s as safe as possible.”

Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle says the summit will address safety concerns in

Wallaby great Paul McLean said his heart and support went out to young Clark and his family.

“I can’t remember a spinal injury at Nudgee College since I left the school in 1971 and there is no common theme to these unfortunate accidents,” said McLean, now chairing the National Schools Strategy group for Rugby Australia.

“Through our national safety group we helped introduce Size-for-Age, the blue card to aid concussion management and the coaching education process is almost faultless at these schools,” McLean said.

In all, 71 kids have been regraded in Brisbane junior rugby this year and most often bigger kids moved to older age levels to prevent major size mismatches.

Castle said she was openminded to changes to further enhance safety after the full reviews of the cases.

Fullagar is also the head of the GPS Association and said “we will be fully supportive of any initiatives that review the safety of all rugby players.”