Austin Healey: Proposed 50-22 kick in rugby could open up defences in backfield

The risk will always be there when playing a collision sport. Photo / AP

COMMENT:

World Rugby's player welfare and law symposium in Paris has thrown up some interesting ideas, but they have missed the most obvious change the sport desperately needs: reducing the weight of players will lower the level of impact in tackle collisions.

The safety measures they have spoken about this week are effectively just a PR campaign to say they are looking at it, and trying to reduce the number of concussions.

One suggestion is a "50-22" kick, modelled on the 40-20 kick in league, where the attacking team retain possession should they kick from behind their own 40-metre line and bounce the ball into touch inside their opponents' 22. The key difference is teams do not have to fight as hard for possession in league compared with rugby, given they have six tackles and then kick it away or hand over possession. If anything, I think it has made league a bit boring.

Strangely, if you change one little law, it can have a massive effect on how the game is played. If you knew a 50-22 kick was coming, you would sit more people in the backfield, which might mean more space to run at.

Saracens recently adapted to this by effectively playing two fullbacks to cover the little kicks in behind. I can see the positives of it but I also feel those 50-22 kicks would be far too easy to execute. The simple way to make the game safer is to make players lighter. Up the pace of the game. Do not let players take 40 seconds to walk from a penalty to a lineout. Make the game more aerobic.

You do not have to change all the laws. Speed the game up and players will have to lose weight to stay on the field.

If you do that in the kids' game you would have the same scenario, leading to better coaching, better technique. Some of the suggestions, such as outlawing the use of double tackles, are impossible to police. You will end up with ridiculous 65-60 scorelines.

One interesting fact that came out of the summit in Paris is that players now weigh 12kg more on average than at the first Rugby World Cup in 1987. If you take that weight off each player, you are reducing the impact of each collision by 24kg. That is a lot of weight. That can be the difference between suffering a concussion and avoiding one.

You do not have to change all of the laws. Coming up with lower tackling, which they tried unsuccessfully in the RFU Championship, and 50-22 kicks is all well and good.

But why not issue a directive to referees, ensuring they inform players that they have only 10 seconds to get the ball back into play or they will be penalised. Then you will have players sprinting to lineouts.

I would take away the option for another scrum when you win a free-kick at a previous scrum too, because what you end up with is 16 big lads standing around getting their oxygen back, which resembles the NFL.

The sport simply has to go back to creating a lot more tempo. Scrummaging absolutely has to be safe, but we increase the pace of the process.

The fact the symposium has happened at all shows World Rugby has undoubtedly reached a point where there is real concern about being on the end of another class action civil lawsuit, as we saw with the NFL and concussion a few years ago. Obviously it wants to help players, but that is also why we can see it putting in the effort to make changes to the sport.

One element of the NFL and league that could be considered is what happens when you reduce the number of players on the pitch. In the NFL you have 11 at any one time; 13 in league.

Would it make rugby safer? You would certainly have more space, and fewer concussions because of fewer collisions. You could lose a back-row forward and a wing.

How far is World Rugby going to take reforms, or do you accept that concussions will happen? If you take up boxing, there is a chance it can happen; the same with football and knee ligament injuries.

You can put as many precautions as you want in place, but the risk will always be there when playing a collision sport.