Another rugby player has died in France - reports

A fourth rugby player has died in France in the space of eight months – according to reports.

It’s being reported by Agence France-Presse that a 23-year-old student player – Nathan Soyeux – tragically died following a tackle sustained in a match between engineering schools near Dijon.

The player initially sat up but soon after started complaining of nausea, before being taken to a nearby hospital. His condition deteriorated and he placed in an induced coma. He did not recover and died today.

Soyeux is the fourth death to hit French rugby since last summer. In May 17-year-old Adrien Descrulhes died after receiving a blow to the head playing for amateur club Billom.

In August Louis Fajfrowski, 21, collapsed in the changing room of his club Aurillac, the Pro D2 team and later died.

In December Nicolas Chauvin suffered a heart attack after breaking his neck in a recent academy match against Bordeaux. Chauvin broke his neck during an academy match and suffered a cardiac arrest and brain damage, dying three days later.

In December the French Rugby Federation (FFR) proposed to World Rugby that tackling above the waist should be banned.

World Rugby president Bill Beaumont was in Paris at a meeting which was also attended by FFR boss Bernard Laporte and French National League (LNR) president Paul Goze.

Laporte suggested that the legal height of tackles should be lowered and called for the introduction of a ban on two-player tackles and head-on-head tackles.

FFR president Laporte said: “The health of our players is an absolute priority for us. Our game must evolve fundamentally and rugby must become a game of movement where avoidance overrides the impact.

“For this, it is important to change attitudes and change the rules, especially on tackling. First by informing and training our players on the rules of the game and, beyond the technique, make them aware that they are also the actors of their own safety.”

The FFR offered to trial the laws in amateur competitions in France.