Hooper slates neck tackles

Brisbane – Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper yesterday urged rugby chiefs to start taking neck roll tackles more seriously after star flanker David Pocock (above) was ruled out of their weekend clash against the Springboks with a “significant injury”.

All Blacks players were accused of targeting the influential No 8 with illegal neck rolls and twists to shift him from the ruck during their big Rugby Championship win in Auckland two weeks ago.

Owen Franks was penalised by the referee but the matter went no further, sparking concerns in Australia that not enough was being done to protect players from what could potentially be a serious injury.

“It’s a significant injury and a significant issue,” Hooper said of Pocock.

“As a coaching group we sent clips to (World Rugby and Sanzaar and the coaches told me that it didn’t meet the red card threshold.

“Neck injuries are a pretty big part of the game and being in a similar position to David, you want to be protected and safe. This is what it’s about – player safety.”

Despite Pocock not able to take part in contact sessions this week in training, coach Michael Cheika had been optimistic he could play and named him in his team for today in Brisbane.

But he has failed to recover with the nature or extent of the neck issues not revealed. –