Game ‘is not worth dying for’

Former British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton worries ‘‘a professional player will die during a game, in front of the TV camera’’ unless rugby is made safer.

The 30-year-old ex-Wales skipper makes the claim in his new autobiography, Open Side, which is being serialised in England by The Times.

In a report in The Times, Warburton – who quit at 29 in 2018 – spoke of his concern about rugby’s fatality rate last year.

‘‘People are dying on rugby pitches. In the seven months between May and December 2018, there were five deaths recorded during a match or as a direct result of playing rugby.

‘‘Rugby’s just a game. It’s not worth dying for. And if something isn’t done soon, then a professional player will die during a game, in front of the TV cameras, and only then will people demand that steps must be taken. It will be reaction rather than anticipation.’’

He has suggested players be restricted to 25 games a season and allowed just 10 minutes of full-contact training each week.

He also believes referees should crack down on illegal binding to eliminate dangerous cleaning out at rucks.

‘‘A lot is being done, especially around concussion, but you will never make the tackle safe. You can’t have two blokes, 14 stone to 20 stone running full tilt, and make it safe.

Sam Warburton, left

‘‘Chest and below makes sense, but with the force of a sprinting knee driving into the side of your head, it’s not necessarily the lower the better.’’

World Rugby reviewed training loads following Warburton’s injury-enforced retirement.

Warburton said in an interview with The Times’ Matt Dickinson that he did not want to ‘‘scaremonger’’ and stressed the ‘‘same threat isn’t there at recreational level’’.

But he said rugby could not be made entirely safe and he admitted he ‘‘loved the physical side’’.

‘‘If something isn’t done soon, then a professional player will die during a game.’’

‘‘I miss that, the big shot, the shoulder contact, that dominance over someone. Sometimes I want my brother to come over the road and pick up a tackle shield so I can smoke him a few times just to hear that noise, the oomph of the air flying out.’’

Warburton told The Times: ‘‘It sounds drastic but I probably say I didn’t enjoy 80 per cent of [my

career].’’ But he declared would ‘‘do it all over again’’.

Warburton played 74 matches for Wales, captaining the team 49 times.

He is one of only two players to captain the Lions on two tours – to a series win in Australia in 2013, then to New Zealand in 2017 for a drawn series with the All Blacks.

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