The retirement of rugby union hookers Steve Thompson and Brendan Cannon on medical advice has highlighted the ongoing safety concern over front-row forwards.
But the sport's governing body, the International Rugby Board (IRB), is confident that new scrummaging laws will go some way to curtailing chronic neck injuries.
Thompson, 28, and Cannon, 34, faced each other in the 2003 World Cup final that Australia lost 20-17 to England and the latter's retirement now means that all the Australian front-row from their semi-final win against New Zealand have left the game with neck or spinal injuries.
Ben Darwin suffered a prolapsed disc after he lost feeling in his neck in a collapsed scrum, while Bill Young suffered chronic neck injuries with numbness in his left arm and hand which still returns on occasion.
Greg Thomas, head of communications for the IRB, said the new rules concerning scrummaging had been implemented in a bid to cut down on injuries.
"Rugby is a very physical game: there is a risk of injury in every aspect of the game and the scrum is obviously one area," Thomas said.
The new scrum regulations had been introduced, Thomas said, "as purely a safety issue."
"The front rows have been brought closer together to minimize impact. Our research showed that the `hit' was starting to cause long-term injuries and possible chronic injuries," he added.
Thomas argued that the number of reset scrums had not increased and "in some competitions it has gone down dramatically ... we are continuing to monitor the situation."
The new scrum laws employ a "crouch, touch, pause, engage" philosophy which sees the two opposing front rows standing closer to each other and the props within touching distance.
They are designed to lessen the full-frontal impact, with the goal of fewer collapsed scrums and resets but the truth remains that you still have up to 2,000kg worth of packs smashing into each other.
BOOT TO FACE: Wilfried Singo said that his actions were not intentional, ‘but I was able to see afterwards that’ the ’keeper had a significant face injury Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday came from behind to extend their unbeaten start to the Ligue 1 season with a 4-2 win away against AS Monaco, but lost goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to a gruesome facial injury. The bloodied Italy international was left requiring 10 staples after sustaining lacerations to the right side of his face when he was caught by the studs of Monaco defender Wilfried Singo. “I don’t know if the referee was badly positioned, but VAR [video assistant referee] needed to intervene, you have to protect the players,” PSG captain Marquinhos said. “To not give a red in a situation like
Cheng Chen Chin-mei on Saturday beamed broadly as she hoisted a 35kg weightlifting bar to her waist, dropped it and waved confidently to the enthusiastic crowd in a competition in Taipei. Cheng Chen, 90, has been pumping iron since last year, encouraged by her granddaughter to take up the sport after she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. She credits the regimen with helping to fix her posture. Three generations of her family were among a couple of hundred people watching Cheng Chen and 44 others aged 70 or older in the weightlifting competition. In the three-round event, Cheng Chen lifted as much as
Zach LaVine on Thursday scored a season-high 36 points to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 117-108 upset victory against defending NBA champions the Boston Celtics, while LeBron James once again made history. LaVine went 11-of-19 from the floor and made six three-pointers while adding six rebounds and four assists for the Bulls, who improved to 13-15 for the season. “We’re a good team,” LaVine said. “We’re competitive and we’re a resilient group.” Ayo Dosunmu contributed 17 points for the Bulls, while Nikola Vucevic had 16 points and 14 rebounds for Chicago. The Bulls outscored Boston 35-22 in the fourth quarter to rally past
Teenage sensation Luke “The Nuke” Littler on Saturday set a tournament record with a 140.91 set average as he secured a second-round win in the PDC World Darts Championship with a 3-1 victory over fellow Englishman Ryan Meikle late. The 17-year-old came close to winning the World Championship in January, but lost in the final to Luke Humphries. Now, he has started the latest edition on a high note. Tournament favorite Littler fired in four maximum 180s, while winning three consecutive legs in 11, 10 and 11 darts, setting a record set average and finishing with an overall average of 100.85. “It was
RSS