New laws should be just a start

THIS is a marvellous time of year. The Six Nations is a wedge between winter and spring. It brings highclass sport into the wet and cold of the New Year, diverting attention from the darkness. April will be consumed by the European Cup demands of Munster and Leinster, and then the Lions tour will be casting the deepest of shadows on every move and misdemeanour. Shortly after that another season will be upon us, and the World Cup in Japan will start becoming the context for new caps and big selection calls.

Rugby jolts along, propelled by exciting matches and big events, and yet this unsettling feeling continues to grow. Ben Marshall (left), a second row at Connacht, retired because of concussion this week.

Dave McSharry and Craig Clarke had to do likewise. Cillian Willis, Kevin McLaughlin, Bernard Jackman and John Fogarty have had their careers ended because of concussion.

The head injury assessment protocol is now under such sustained and sensible-seeming criticism from certain doctors and specialists that it is difficult to see how it can continue to be credibly employed.

There was a time when the premature retirement of players from concussion was used by some in rugby as proof that their approach worked. But that has never washed.

The new tackle laws are a fresh way of mitigating the risk, but they will not remove it. Nothing will – but the dangers have to be taken seriously.