General Rugby Discussion 3

I have a nephew playing for his uni team in London. Recently he got a bad concussion during a game, couldn't remember anything, pale in the face, disoriented, etc. Bad one. Anyhow, afterwards no-one got in touch w any family and coaches didn't organise for him to get to hospital or even get home. Luckily one of his team mates texted his mum and got him a taxi to his brothers house, they took him to A&E. I was surprised the coaches/team didn't make sure he was looked after, is that common?

Yeah, shocking. Ive never come across it before but have no experience of uni rugby in the UK.

In fairness to World Rugby the 20-minute red card is something that was pushed especially by New Zealand and SANZAR. New Zealand used it in Super Rugby in 2020 already to not impact the "integrity" of the match. Which is all rubbish, you either believe in player safety or you don't. We already see players are not tackling lower and that is why you see head on head contact, even with the threat of a red card. But reducing the sanction once again will not impact trying to change behaviour of players in tackling lower. It is a trial and we will see if the other nations actually go for it as well. I don't think the threat of lawsuits have hit the Southern Hemisphere yet so they are still a little blaisé about head injuries. I think all of the top people and commentators say the right thing on record but off the record they are probably thinking and saying the game has gone soft.

As for the other changes, what is to stop a team that is being destroyed in the scrum from just not getting ready for it? Your choice seems to be a penalty if you scrum or free kick if you don't, that does not seem right. Can the referee give a penalty instead? The problem at the moment that a strong scrum being an automatic penalty is too much in favour on the one side but this seems to be a way to mitigate that.

This is the worst part of the rule. Bringing on someone who doesn't play the position of the guy who has gone off will result in rearranging the team on the fly and could be equally damaging to the spectacle of the game. The logic behind it is nonsense.

If a prop gets a 20 minute red and your front row subs are on, do you get to bring back on someone who as already been subbed off? Or is it uncontested scrums and you can bring on whoever is unused on the bench?

The increase in red cards for high tackles has been a pretty big change for NZ. Sonny Bill Williams's red against the Lions in 2017 was the first red card for 50 years for NZ if I'm not mistaken. But they've had a relative glut of them since then. It has to have had an impact on their ability to keep their win % up.

Probably the same as currently happens, if they can’t bring on a prop it goes to uncontested scrums and another man goes off.

Australia looked lost out there. Joe is starting at a very low base compared to any of his previous jobs, it's a big ask. SA continue to improve their wide game, Kriel has become a fantastic player.

The change in red card rules around head contact is all to do with player welfare. The real question should be whether 20 minute red cards has a negative impact on player welfare. If it doesn't, then I have no problem with it.

We're too busy focusing on the Olympics. Rugby has taken a backseat 😁

This pos was seig heiling at the Belfast race riot a couple of weeks ago. Full Ulster kit on him. Jaysus.

https://m.sundayworld.com/crime/courts/boxes-of-religious-pamphlets-found-in-loyalists-home-aimed-at-stirring-up-hatred/a204800212.html

That is extremely poor and I’d be very upset as a parent if I heard of that happening in any club my kids were involved with.

Lots of changes to SA starting team to face Australia again this weekend. Not sure why both Libbok and Pollard are on the bench though.

Springbok team:

15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels

Substitutes: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Handre Pollard