Medic hails NRL’s high shots stand

The former Cronulla Shark who drove rugby union’s global push to stamp out head and neck contact said a major crackdown proved to be highly effective in reducing concussions – but only by using harsh actions such as sin-bins and send-offs.

World Rugby’s deputy chief medical officer Dr Martin Raftery, who was also a long time Dragons doctor, said rugby union’s experience in trying to limit the frequency of head knocks was given its biggest boost when match officials started sending players from the field.

It comes after a controversial NRL Magic Round where coaches and fans have been split over a mid-season crackdown, which saw Canberra behemoth Josh Papalii and Dragons centre Tyrell Fuimaono sent off for high tackles, and a spate of other players sent to the sin bin.

Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys remains unapologetic about the push, which has the backing of South Sydney supercoach Wayne Bennett. Bennett argued the NRL needed to follow the lead of rugby union and AFL in not tolerating any contact with the head.

Rugby initiated a similar zero tolerance crackdown in 2017 but officials found penalties alone didn’t move the needle far enough in reducing high contact and concussions. But after referees were told to punish high contact with red and yellow cards (sendoffs and 10-minute sin-bins, respectively) behaviours – and outcomes – began to change.

A scientific paper published last year showed concussion rates at the 2019 Rugby World Cup had dropped by 28 per cent compared the global average in 2018.

Like in the NRL’s Magic Round, the 2019 Rugby World Cup was dominated by the crackdown and there was a 74 per cent increase in head contact yellow cards and a 138 per cent increase in red card sanctions for head contact in the tournament, compared to 2018 data.

‘‘Our research into the cause of head injury in the sport was completed in 2016 identifying the tackle as the most injurious phase of the game,’’ said Raftery, who was World Rugby’s chief medical officer for a decade until 2020.

‘‘Our initial intervention to protect the players was for World Rugby to adopt a ‘zero tolerance’ for head contact which led to higher sanctions by match officials, including penalties, yellow cards and red cards.

‘‘Rugby is a global game so we were able to monitor eight national competitions and what we noted was that the issuing of cards, both yellow and red, resulted in lower concussion rates. But those competitions which didn’t issue more cards, even though they may have had higher penalty rates, did not lower concussion rates.

‘‘The lesson for us was cards change behaviour, not necessarily penalties.’’

Rugby union’s worldwide concussion rates had been increasing between 2011 and 2018 after the code introduced head injury assessments, which provided greater awareness through the media and involved training of club doctors to diagnose concussion. There was also a lower threshold for diagnosing concussion before 2011. All other injury levels had been relatively stable over the same time.

Papalii is in danger of missing the State of Origin series opener after being hit with a grade three careless high tackle, which carries a three-match ban with an early guilty plea. He will miss five matches if he fights the charge and loses.