Man, just when you think that rugby couldn't't get any softer, out comes the rule book and yet another law change. Now they want players to tackle around the waste. Rugby is going to turn into basketball as it will make it way easier for players to pass the ball, not to mention that there will be no dominant tackles. 

But reading further into why this law change was brought in then you start to realise that it was never about players welfare but purely for financial reasons. 

The RFU is being sued by 40 players. 

Rugby and most sport is a high risk sport. More people die from horse riding than any other sport.

The players, the parents and the unions know that when you play this sport there is risk associated with it. No-one is forcing players to go out their and tackle with their head first. 

And those players that go out there with either bad technique or deliberate foul play should be penalised financially and receive match bans. The we will see the likes of Owen Farrell stop using his shoulders. 

However, what I don't approve is this bloody cardpalooza bs where the ref decides the game. 

How would I solve poor tackles or foul play

1. Players receive a card which means immediate removal from the field. Yellow and Red stresses the severity of foul. 
2. Instead of going down a player trigger an automatic substitution. This will mess the coaches plans up but having to bring players on early could back fire. 
3. Harsher off field penalties for players. Yellow could mean two weeks where as red can mean 8 or more weeks. Even a whole season. This is to avoid coaches instructing players to commit a foul knowing they will get away with it.
4. Awarding penalty tries. So if a player knocks the ball down, or continues to infringe. Be quick to award a penalty try. I'm tired of refs going on and on giving players cautions. They know they get 3 cracks at least and should be enough to stop a try. If you collapse the maul, penalty try, if you are off side within the 5m penalty try. If you commit a high tackle in the 22, even if there is a covering player, penalty try. 
5. Any Red Card offences normally comes with a penalty, so it should start from 50m line in the centre of the field or 50 meters from where the cartable offence was committed. That way the team gains territory and have the option to go for the post or if they are in a better position can opt for a line-out or even scrum, tap etc. But the game is normally stopped. 
6. Half Time Reviews - If any red cartable foul play was detected then the team committing the foul will be penalised immediately and the other team will get a penalty on the half way line. The offending player will be removed from the field. 

And my final point, we see so many accidental head contact when a player tries to make a ball and all tackle where their head collides. Just send both players off for HIA which is the most important thing. If it was deemed a foul, then the other player can't come back on. 

Rugby is about winning collisions, collisions are not safe. But men like collisions. Of course those weak little snowflakes whose testicals have inverted into their pelvis and shriveled into ovaries won't understand that. If the aim of the game is to make rugby safe, then we can't play rugby at all. Collisions are not safe, the premise is flawed in its entirety to begin with. That's the bottom line. 

Only applies to England thankfully

I was concussed once, getting my head in front of the knee in a side on tackle….I also dislocated my shoulder in a head on tackle. Tackling is inherently unsafe as Deus implies. But for the tackler going lower becomes, more and more unsafe.

So all this emphasis on head clashes is probably going to result in more injuries to the tackler.

I will say this, a few years back the AB forwards perfected the head butt tackle. Having somebody head butt you to the face is a little unpleasant and it must have been in the runners’minds. Getting rid of that foul tactic was a good thing.

For the rest, much of it is nonsense. If the neck roll is really dangerous half the kids in South Africa would be compromised. I must have been neck rolled 100 times in my youth, not on the rugby field, but during school breaks.

It reminds me of that awful incident involving Conrad Smith. He quickly tried to go low but couldn't adjust his head in time and JJ Engelbrecht knock him out. 

When last did we see a good old round the ankles tackle...dropping like a pocket of potatoes. 

The ankle clasp went out of fashion with Lambie. 

....long before that...it's how we played  kaalvoet in the Boland in 84...haven't really ever seen it on TV from the big guys in boots.

Hit below the waist, clasp your arms aroun and slide down to the ankles...doef!!!

Or in the sixties, for the side on tackles,  grab the collar and set yourself. The feet fly out and the runner is deposited on his back…worked like a charm.

Willie is still a master at this…

“ Hit below the waist, clasp your arms aroun and slide down to the ankles...doef!!!”

one of a dying breed..

This applies to the male and female leagues, the Championship and below. 

Premiership is exempt at the moment. 

Players with good handoffs could benefit from this change. It is easier to fend off a low tackle, than a chest-high tackle collision. 

 Also, people that are good at offloading in low tackles could benefit as it is much easier to offload, than if someone wraps your arms in the tackle with a chest tackle.  

It would probably also suit players like Goosen or Curwin Bosch who struggle with upper-body strength in contact. They would prefer to the tackled low than have someone run over them by tackling chest high with mummy arms

This pathetic rule will kill the game in England

Half the tackles made are reactionary or reflex where it is impossible to get into a position to effect a low tackle.

What about those many situations where an engulfing chest tackle is required or where you wish to drive a player backwards

How the hell are you meant to defend the goal line by only going low

What about attackers not being able to dip into a defender

This rule will triple the number of penalties a game

How the fuck are amateurs meant to transition into professional rugby when they effectively will have to go play a different game

It’s fucking suicide - the RFU are a bunch of idiots

Wehe . . . while it's not that difficult to picture a weedy little stick-insect like Moffie getting splattered in a rugby tackle, the real difficulty is imagining him running onto a rugby pitch in the first place.

It's a lot easier to picture the bigger boys making him their little bitch and beating him up at break every day and that goes some way to explaining the weak, whiny and needy attention-seeker he is today.

"It's a lot easier to picture the bigger boys making him their little bitch and beating him up at break every day..."

That's because you are a bully at heart.