Irb To Review Rules To End Injuries

The International Rugby Board is to discuss changing the laws of the game at its council meeting next week in response to the increasing number of injuries being sustained at the top-level.

Injuries have become a major issue this season with the England squad in particular having been hit by a host of withdrawals.

Thirteen of the original squad were sidelined ahead of the series – including four-fifths of the first-choice front row forwards.

Wales, too, have been without Lions trio Lee Byrne, Mike Phillips and Adam Jones, with the latter recently admitting that no player was now genuinely 100% fit.

And in the Guinness Premiership, recent statistics have shown that at any given time about a quarter of all players in the top division are injured.

The International Rugby Board council meets next week, and Rugby Football Union chairman Martyn Thomas said a review of the laws is on the agenda.

‘At all costs we’ll do what we can to protect players. The rise in injuries is not acceptable.

‘We can’t just shut our eyes. We have the ability to change laws. If the medics and experts say there is a problem then the RFU will take a look at it.

‘The crucial thing is player welfare and the impact the injuries are having on the game, apart from a moral issue, of course.’

An RFU taskforce brought together in the wake of recent scandals suggested the introduction of rugby league-style ‘rolling substitutions’ as one possible way of dealing with the increasingly physical nature of the modern game.

The IRB had previously stated that no changes would be made to the laws of the game prior to the 2011 World Cup.

But Thomas pointed out that there had been exceptions to this, with adjustments introduced at the scrum following the introduction of the ‘crouch, touch, pause, engage’ command that was intended to improve the safety for front row players in particular.

‘We said we’re not going to change the laws this side of the World Cup, but we have to be open: look at the laws and look at the impact they’re having on the game.

‘We changed the scrum law because we were concerned for player welfare. We have to be open and realistic. The RFU has got a pretty good record for lobbying.’