Players slow learners on high tackles
IT was just another Blues loss.
There have been plenty of them over the years. Shame, that. Let’s be honest — noone down this way tires of them.
But it is what happened in that loss, in early March 2017, to the Chiefs, which has had a marked impact on the game.
About half an hour into the match, Blues loose forward Steven Luatua stuck out an arm and caught Chiefs winger Tim NanaiWilliams high in an attempted tackle.
It was reactionary, very desperate, but not dirty. It was just lazy or clumsy at best.
But under the new rules which had been introduced by World Rugby before that season kicked off, Luatua was redcarded.
Any hit to the head, no matter how unintentional, no matter how reactionary, was a red card.
That was a warning. The benchmark had been set. Any tackle which collides with the head is a red card.
Now more than three years later and lots and lots of games, players are still failing to see or get what the new law entails.
Going high with the tackle and leading with the shoulder is dicing with death.
Now, we can all go on about the old ways and the game getting soft and perhaps it has, but that is not going to change anything.
World Rugby is trying to promote a gladiatorial sport which has massive collisions from start to finish.
The game’s biggest worry in trying to attract new people and sponsors in this cottonwool and litigationobsessed world we live in is head knocks or concussion.
Research shows concussion is caused in rugby mostly in tackles.
So the most obvious way to reduce concussion is to get the height level of the tackle down.
At last year’s World Cup in Japan, there was a drop of more than a third in concussions caused by the tackle collision.
That has been attributed to the zerotolerance approach to head contact at that tournament where a record eight red cards were handed out.
So World Rugby is going to keep enforcing what it believes is a mandate.
Belowthenipple tackling has been tried in some competitions with mixed success.
Perhaps that is going too far but in the future, tackles round the hips and not around the head are going to become the norm.
In fact it may lead to a freer game with lots more movement as attackers get advantages with hands free.
And is that a bad thing?
In the meantime, until players learn and techniques are polished, the cards will keep coming.
As for that idea of having redcarded players replaced — crazy stuff.
Part of the game is keeping your discipline. If you don’t then the team suffers. Ask Scott Barrett. Wasn’t that one of the dumbest plays by an All Black in recent years?
The game is in the balance. The referee is not having a great game and is handing out cards like cream pies at a Kim Dotcom birthday party.
So what does allelbowandknees Barrett do? Does a cheeky wee move with his hand to get an opponent to fumble the ball.
There are cameras everywhere at the game. Did he honestly think he was going to get away with it?
Barrett has improved markedly since. But he is still prone to give away penalties.
Ian Foster should show what he means when maintaining discipline and drop Barrett for this week.