Ref mocks call to ban tackling
TOP ref Nigel Owens has ridiculed a call to ban tackling in school rugby.
The Welsh whistler reacted angrily to comments from university health professor Allyson Pollock urging the UK’s chief medical officers to remove contact from the school game.
“They will want to ban walking to school next,” tweeted Owens. “And only rubber pens and pencils to be used in class. What is the world coming to?”
Pollock’s claim that banning tackling would reduce head and neck injuries and concussion was challenged by World Rugby, who say her conclusions are “simply not supported by data”.
England legend Will Carling (below) also disagreed with the Newcastle University professor and said a better safety measure would be to organise children by weight rather than by age.
RFU boss Steve Brown pledged that the Union would “continue developing how the game is played in schools and rugby clubs and making sure that it is safe”.
He added: “We can do everything we can to prepare people, but people have choices to be involved in the sport.
“The values and quality of our sport far outweigh the risks attached. People play because they want to be physically active.”