World Rugby to consider tackle height change for professional game

Lowering the legal tackle height to the sternum in professional rugby, reducing numbers of bench players and rolling out the 20-minute red card globally are among a range of moves being considered by World Rugby to make the game safer and more attractive.

World Rugby announced the potential changes as part of a “phased plan” to improve the speed and spectacle of rugby, arising from a recent “Shape of the Game” conference in London, where coaches, players, officials and administrators discussed ways to improve the stoppage-plagued code.

A range of tweaks and proposed changes to laws were outlined, but World Rugby also included several plans to address welfare issues, including banning the dangerous “croc roll” cleanout and a study of whether reduced tackle height trials could happen in elite rugby.

In a bid to reduce head impacts,11 unions around the world – including Australia – are currently trialling laws in community rugby which make it illegal to tackle above the sternum.

Concussion has been an issue across all contact sports in recent years, with a study released this week further supporting the link between contact sport and the degenerative brain disorder chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

World Rugby said on Tuesday it would form a specialist working group to “consider the results of the community tackle height trials across 11 unions and consider appropriateness for elite rugby”, and make recommendations to the World Rugby Council.

Max Douglas takes the full force of a high tackle from Pone Fa’amausili, which led to a red card.Credit: Getty

World Rugby will also put the global trial of the 20-minute red card to a vote at the World Rugby Council meeting in May. The initiative, which allows a sent-off player to be replaced after 20 minutes, has been in use in Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship since 2021, and has been pushed hard by SANZAAR nations.

Given the increased number of cards issued as part of a push to eliminate head contact, Rugby Australia and partners argue the 20-minute red card ensures a fair contest still unfolds, and stronger suspensions can serve as the deterrent. A 75-per-cent vote is required at the World Rugby council to proceed to a global trial, however, and there is still reluctance among European unions.

World Rugby will also look at potentially limiting “the number and timing” of players being used off the bench in elite rugby, to create more space and improve injury rates. Some have bemoaned teams being able to roll out an entirely new forward pack – as the Springboks did in the Rugby World Cup – in the second half. Examining ways to reduce the stifling impact of the “jackal”, whose job it is to steal or slow down the ball at the breakdown, is also on World Rugby’s radar.

But while those are all longer-term studies, World Rugby also announced more immediate law shifts or applications to speed up play and address some of the scourges affecting the current game.

Darcy Swain sees a red card against England in Perth in 2022.Credit: AP

As seen recently in Super Rugby, referees will be told to crack down on the caterpillar ruck by calling “use it” earlier at a ruck, and then starting a five-second countdown.

The offside changes introduced in Super Rugby to eliminate “the Dupont Law” kick-tennis loophole is set to be implemented globally after the World Rugby Council meeting on May 9, and the ‘croc roll’ cleanout – where players clean out by using a judo-style twist on a rival’s neck and shoulders – is also set to be outlawed.

World Rugby will also roll out law trials that will see crooked lineout throws not pinged if the lineout is not contested, the ability to mark inside the 22m from a restart and the ball being played from a rolling maul when the referee deems it has stopped once, not twice as is the current law.

“Change is in rugby’s DNA,” World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont said in a release.

“Two hundred years ago we were born from a desire to change, and we are harnessing that same spirit to excite the next generation of fans and players. The moves that we are making are grounded in our commitment to increasing relevance on a global basis and born from a desire to change for the better.

“That means being bold, embracing change by dialling up the entertainment value, making our stars more accessible and simplifying terminology and language used to explain rugby to those who are yet to fall in love with it.

“We have moved quickly. It has taken a special unity and commitment from across the sport to be able to present a package of enhancements to the council in May. I look forward to the discussions.”

More reading

• Five-second rule: Can one refereeing decision kill off rugby’s most hated tactic?
• What is Dupont’s law, why is it ruining the game, and how will Super Rugby stop it?
• ‘In the best interests of the game’: Rugby Australia to lower legal tackle height

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