TOKYO — World Rugby deserves plenty of credit for its attempts to try and make the game safer.
We all want rugby to flourish into the future and that is reliant on the next generation of kids picking up the ball and running with it, to use a timely Williams Webb Ellis analogy.
And we want their parents to be confident their children are playing a game that is as safe as possible, none more-so than when it comes to concussion. Colleague Tom Hamilton’s piece told the tale of former England captain Lewis Moody’s various head knocks, and the progress that has been made in the time since his retirement in better identifying concussion through rugby’s Head Injury Assessment policies.
The governing body is desperate to limit the number of potential head injuries that occur in any given game and has instigated a framework to sanction those that are guilty of high tackles or shoulder charges, where contact is made with the head.
It has been put to the test over the first 10 days at the Rugby World Cup, beginning with Wallabies winger Reece Hodge and his high contact with Fiji’s Peceli Yato in the 26th minute of Australia’s 39-21 in Sapporo.
Hodge’s three-week ban, which came after he was cited post-match, was followed by similar incidents that saw Samoa’s Rey Lee-Lo and Motu Matu’u, and American John Quill, all cop the same punishment. Quill’s situation was different however as he was the only player to receive a red card at the time of the incident: A dangerous shoulder charge on England’s Owen Farrell.
World Rugby was attempting to draw a clear line in the sand that said when tacklers made contact with the head or neck, even if there was evidence of mitigating factors like Yato’s change of direction, that offending players would be suspended.
The Hodge incident, in particular, sparked fierce debate across the game but the general consensus was that given Yato’s failed head injury assessment at the time and the concussion symptoms he was still suffering a few days later, the Australian deserved some kind of sanction for his tackle.
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Michael Cheika has taken issue with the officials’ interpretation of the rules following the Wallabies’ loss to Wales.
But that was only the beginning.
Sunday night’s thriller between Wales and Australia in Tokyo produced no less than three separate incidents where referee Romain Poite and the Television Match Official reviewed footage on the big screen.
The first, a late tackle/shoulder charge from Michael Hooper on Wales fly-half Dan Biggar, was rightfully penalized and no further sanction ensued. It was the same situation for Wales winger Josh Adams whose arm slid up on Wallabies replacement Lukhan Salakaia-Loto but avoided the neck or head.
But wedged between those incidents was a leading forearm from Samu Kerevi, one of the hard-running centre’s big assets, which appeared to collect Wales replacement Rhys Patchell in the neck area.
After multiple looks on the big screen, Kerevi was also penalised and Patchell soon knocked over a vital three points that would help Wales to a 29-25 victory.
Both Kerevi and Cheika were at a loss to explain the incident post-match, the Wallabies coach saying he was “embarrassed” by the stage rugby’s dangerous contact had reached while also admitting he did not know the lawbook inside out.
“Oh look, I don’t know every directive, there have been a few of them come out,” Cheika said.
“I don’t know any more. I don’t know the rules any more, honestly.”
For the record, this is what Law 9.24 does say about fending or handing off defenders: “A ball-carrier is permitted to hand off an opponent provided excessive force is not used.”
The thing that frustrates players, coaches and fans alike is the lack of consistency with which the laws are applied, both on field and then later at the judiciary.
World Rugby made a marker of Hodge last week, and followed that decision up with the same bans for Matu’u, Lee-Lo and Quill. But a three-person tribunal then on Sunday let England’s Piers Francis walk free despite his dangerous tackle on American Will Hooley where they Kiwi-born Englishman was travelling at speed from the opening kick-off. It was more dangerous than Hodge’s “soak” tackle on Yato.
In terms of the Kerevi incident, there is a picture of Beauden Barrett on social media with a far more dangerous forearm on Cheslin Kolbe – it clearly makes contact with the South African’s head – that went unpunished and is probably only one of a number of similar incidents that have played out over the opening two weeks of the World Cup.
World Rugby is intent on changing player behaviours and encouraging lower tackling, even holding trials of a below-the-nipple marker for high-tackle infringements. That is admirable and such trials are entirely necessary as we learn more about the devastating effects concussion can have on the human brain.
Players certainly aren’t permitted to ram their forearm into the head or neck of opposition defenders either. But there has got to be leeway for incidents like Kerevi’s otherwise we will be stopping Test matches regularly and, as Michael Hooper said after his side’s loss on Sunday night, having more “95 minute games” rather than the official 80.
The Hodge precedent should have been in place and it was, until Francis was cleared to play, while it should be the same situation for Kerevi’s incident, for this tournament anyway, too.
It could prove to be a slippery slope for World Rugby for the remainder of this World Cup and beyond.
At the heart of it lies the fact that rugby remains a collision-based sport and while administrators must continue to do all it can to limit concussion injuries, the fact remains that some contact will cause accidental harm and must be dealt with as such.
Having had a few more hours to reflect on his offending ball-carry, Kerevi on Monday clarified his quip that he should entertain a switch to rugby league, spoke of the need for consistency in decisions and sanctions, and then nailed the entire debate in one line.
“I was just saying that [NRL reference] as a little joke. But I am being serious at the same time, I just don’t want our sport to be soft. I understand it’s all about safety. I understand that. I keep saying it, but it’s a collision sport.”
The balance between soft and safe has become distorted at this tournament and that has, unfortunately, taken the shine off some of the sensational rugby that is being played.
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