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.
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Arsenal stormed six points clear at the top of the English Premier League as Bukayo Saka and Viktor Gyokeres put Fulham to the sword in a 3-0 win, while West Ham United’s defeat at Brentford offered Tottenham Hotspur a lifeline in the battle for survival. The Gunners have stumbled toward the finish line in their quest for a first league title in 22 years, blowing a sizeable lead over Manchester City in a series of nervous displays. However, the return of Saka, making his first start in six weeks, freed up Mikel Arteta’s men in a dominant performance that shrugged
RSS