Rugby chiefs have admitted to Sky News their sport is not “incredibly safe” due to the “high risk of injuries”, while insisting players should be encouraged they are prioritising addressing concussion concerns.
The candour on the dangers from head collisions comes ahead of the Women’s Rugby World Cup starting in England next week.
At that tournament, for the first time at a World Cup, smart mouthguards will flash red if they detect potential concussions that require further assessment by measuring the force and movement from a head impact.
“We could stick our head in the sand and pretend something doesn’t exist, but that’s not going to help anybody,” World Rugby science and medical manager Dr Lindsay Starling told Sky News.
“It is a sport that has a high risk of injuries and that comes from the physical contact nature of the game, which is also what we all love about watching it. And so that can’t be ignored.
“We can’t pretend that the sport is incredibly safe and there’s no risk of injury. And so by creating more awareness when there has been a substantial head knock, that’s important to educate people.”
There is an expectation one player per match could be removed due to potential head injury at the World Cup, which opens with England playing the US in Sunderland next Friday.
Players would then leave the pitch for a head injury assessment. Footage is then analysed to see how steady players are after the impact.
Then they would be asked a series of questions to test memory and concentration. Players are asked to remember words from a list read out and to repeat numbers in a different sequence.
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A critical time for rugby
Rugby being so candid about the potential risks from head injuries comes as the sport is facing legal action from more than 700 mostly male former players who claim leaders were negligent in failing to take reasonable action to protect them from brain injuries.
The case is progressing slowly with challenges, including around historic medical records.
“Concussion is obviously incredibly serious,” Dr Starling said at the England team HQ at Twickenham.
“It’s absolutely our number one priority in terms of understanding why they happen and doing what we can to reduce that.
“The other side of that argument, though, is that we know this information. It would be more scary or more of a worry if we didn’t know that.”
World Rugby believes female players are more susceptible to being concussed than their male counterparts but at “much lower magnitudes”.
They are still exploring why. It could be due to physical differences in neck strength and blood flow metabolic rates, or it could combine with female players accessing more technical training later on.
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Parental concern over women’s game
But how does the spectre of brain injuries chime with the mission of the World Cup to super-charge the women’s game in England, by expanding the audience and encouraging youngsters to play?
Especially with those flashing mouthguards warning of potential concussions.
Dr Starling admits it creates a concern. But to parents doubting whether their children should take up rugby, there’s an attempt to offer some reassurances from those overseeing safety, citing enhanced technology.
“We’ve never been in a situation where we know more about what the risk is,” World Rugby chief medical officer Dr Eanna Falvey told Sky News.
“That will improve over time, so our job is to give parents the autonomy to make a decision that they can about their daughter’s playing.
Ferocity at the heart of rugby
“If their daughter wants to play, we want to help them arrive at a decision that they’re happy with the level of exposure the daughter has and what they can do about it.
“There’s a lot of health dangers from not being involved in sport. Physical inactivity is the biggest health concern in the Western world right now.
“So being involved with team sport has huge benefits.”
And Prof Falvey emphasised the essence of rugby is, at times, the ferocity.
“It’s a contact sport,” he said. “Nobody shies away from that fact. I think people who play the game play it because they want to play contact sports. Our job is to make that game as safe as we can.”
