Ross Tucker: 'Doing nothing wasn't an option'
Ross Tucker, the respected sports scientist and research consultant for World Rugby, begins our conversation with a clear message.
We’re discussing the Rugby Football Unions’s decision to lower the tackle height limit in the community game in England to the waist. It is a decision that has been met with almost universal derision. Players, journalists and fans have rallied against the law change in a rare show of unity in an otherwise polarised sport. MPs have weighed in on the discourse with the matter raised in the House of Commons.
“The lack of communication has alienated a lot of people,” Tucker says. “Maybe they’ve [the RFU] misunderstood on how best to bring people along. It’s important you do that otherwise you’ll never get the buy-in that you need.”
Tomorrow we’ll unpack the ideological and political implications this new law may have on a sport that is seemingly tearing apart at the seams. Tucker has a lot to say on how the precise location of a ball carrier’s hip has opened up a new front in rugby’s culture war.
But first we’ll unpack the science. As Tucker says, “The data is clear. I support the decision that’s been made. They should have gone about it a little differently and they are getting blowback as a result. But the science shows that they’ve made this decision with the best intentions.”
The end goal is to reduce head injuries in rugby. At the elite level a concussion occurs roughly once every 250 to 300 tackles, or one in every five matches. According to Tucker the risk of concussion is 25 per cent lower in the community game. But, because of the sheer volume of community matches in all age groups, our perception of the problem is distorted.
“If there are a thousand community games around the country, and there’s probably more than that, you’ve got 200 concussions per weekend,” Tucker explains. “That’s astonishing and that’s why this matters. So when people ask why this has started at the amateur level, that’s why.”
Regardless of the level, ball carriers suffer 30 per cent of all concussions while tacklers, who by design must put their heads in harm’s way, experience 70 per cent. Head to head collisions are the most dangerous.
“If you were to successfully eliminate all high tackles, as the law currently stands [above the shoulder line], you’d immediately get rid of 90 per cent of the concussions experienced by the ball carrier,” Tucker says. “They might still get concussed, either through whiplash or through ground contact, but the major risk would be mitigated.”
As for the tackler, concussion rates would drop by 30% which would mean that concussions in rugby would be reduced by 40 per cent if all high tackles were to disappear.
“Doing nothing wasn’t an option,” Tucker says. “We have the data that shows the degree of risk. Sports federations constantly have to walk a tightrope between changing too much and changing too little, but in this instance they had to try and do something.”
The unions in France and New Zealand have already implemented successful trials that prove that a lowering of the tackle height reduces the risk of head injuries.
The French case is particularly pertinent where, in 2019, after four rugby related deaths across a single season, the French Rugby Federation (FFR) lowered the tackle height to the waist and placed a ban on ball carriers stooping in to contact in the amateur game.
There were teething problems at first. Penalty counts rose as illegally high tackles rose from 2.2 to 6.1 a game in the first two months of the trial. Referees were also inconsistent in how they officiated this new law.
But four months later the number of high tackles had dropped to 3.8 per match. Offloads increased, as did the number of passes. There were fewer kicks. Most crucially, the number of head-to-head contacts fell from 9.5 per match to 3.5 while the number of blue cards, brandished by referees for suspected concussions, dropped by 27 per cent.
“The French were ecstatic,” Tucker says. “Not only with the reduction in head injuries and concussions on the field but with the way the game had evolved. The reports are that the game is so much more fun. Ruck speed is so quick, the ball carrier is never wrapped up in the tackle so he can offload or place the ball to keep the game flowing.
“We’ve also seen the game become more evasive with ball carriers looking for space rather than contact. We know from studies in rugby league that when the ball carrier adopts an evasive action, in other words side-steps or spins, then the risk for both the ball carrier and the tackler drops by 80 per cent.
“Because the ball carrier can’t drop low into contact they’re forced to look for space. Why would you look for contact if you have to stay upright? As for the tackler, we know from mouthguard data that head acceleration is lower the lower you tackle. So you’ve got a tackler going low and a ball carrier staying high and being tackled around the hips. That’s the safest place to be.”
The FFR’s report, which showed 63 per cent reduction in head collisions, failed to mention contacts between the ball carriers knee or hip and the tackler’s head. Tucker doesn’t not believe that this was necessarily intellectually dishonest, but he does say that he’d be interested in that data. He believes that there would naturally be an increase in these sorts of collisions.
Critics of the RFU believe that the board has made a drastic decision without enough research behind them. But, as Tucker says, “You paralyse the whole thing by asking for the evidence because you’ll never get the evidence if you don’t make the change.
“It would be like people criticising a chicken before it’s hatched. It’s a double chicken-egg situation. And there was enough data. All the data that the RFU has used – from France, from New Zealand, from South Africa – is built of multiple studies themselves.
“The data is a little messy. They’re ecologically observational studies and not lab controlled studies. But the outcomes of those studies confirm that there is enough reason to believe the initial studies on risk, so it’s worth pursuing.
“I believe we’re facing the right direction. There is a question concerning how quickly one should move in that direction. But I don’t think you can challenge the direction we’re going.”
Part 2 of the interview will be published tomorrow…
Comments on RugbyPass
Great insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
1 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
5 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
36 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
5 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
5 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
5 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
36 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?
35 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
4 Go to commentsBut here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.
36 Go to commentsIt could be coincidental or prescient that the All Blacks most dominant period under Steve Hansen was when the Crusaders had their least successful period under Todd Blackadder and then the positions reversed when Razor took over the Crusaders.
36 Go to commentsDefinitely sound read everybodyexpects immediate results these days, I don't think any team would travel well at all having lost three of the most important game changers in the game,compiled with the massive injury list they are now carrying, good to see a different more in depth perspective of a coaches history.
3 Go to commentsSinckler is a really big loss for English rugby.
2 Go to commentsThanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause
36 Go to commentsNo way. If you are trying to picture New Zealand rugby with an All Blacks mindset, there have been two factors instrumental to the decline of NZ rugby to date. Those are the horror that the Blues have become and, probably more so, the fixture that the Crusaders became. I don’t think it was healthy to have one team so dominant for so long, both for lack of proper representation of players from outside that environment and on the over reliance on players from within it. If you are another international side, like Ireland for example, sure. You can copy paste something succinct from one level to the next and experience a huge increase in standards, but ultimately you will not be maximizing it, which is what you need to perform to the level the ABs do. Added to that is the apathy that develops in the whole game as a result of one sides dominance. NZ, Super, and Championship rugby should all experience a boom as a result of things balancing out. That said, there is a lot of bad news happening in NZ rugby recently, and I’m not sure the game can be handled well enough here to postpone the always-there feeling of inevitable decline of rugby.
36 Go to commentsNo SA supporter miss Super Rugby - a product that is experiencing significant head wind in ANZ - the competition from rival codes are intense, match attendance figures are at a historical low and the negativity of commentators such as Kirwan and Wilson have accelerated the downward spiral in NZ. After the next RWC in 2027 sponsors will follow Qantas and start leaving in droves.
5 Go to comments