Tackle height lowered for under-20 Worlds in elite-game trial

Tackles above the sternum will be outlawed at the World Under-20s Championship in Georgia next summer as the possibility of a lowering of the maximum tackle height across the elite game moves a step closer.

Over the past two seasons, the height limit on legal tackles has already been dropped from shoulder to sternum in the community game in 11 countries around the world.

Analysis of almost 150,000 tackles since the change has demonstrated varying decreases in the number of concussions and also that tacklers are dropping their body height in response to the law shift.

“Player welfare is at the heart of everything World Rugby does,” said chairman Brett Robinson.

“We’ll leave no stone left unturned in our efforts to make the game as safe as it can be. Having said that, protecting what makes rugby, rugby is a vital part of my role.

“We’ll undertake this trial, study it closely to ensure we have a game and an Under-20 Championship that excites players and fans alike.”

The new lower tackle height does not apply when an attacking player “picks and goes” around a breakdown or the base of a scrum, or when they are in the act of scoring.

Ball carriers will be penalised if they lead with their head, making a legal tackle difficult to effect, in other areas of the game.

If a tackler hits above the sternum, but below the head, play will proceed with the attacking team having an advantage.

While there were positive reports from England and France around the way the law change had opened up the game, World Rugby’s overall analysis across 11 different unions showed only minor changes in the number of offloads, kicks and the flow of the game overall.

World Rugby vice-chair and former England full-back Jonathan Webb believes that a full roll-out, rather than another limited trial, would be the next step to consider if the laws work well at the under-20 World Championship,

“If this is successful and shows good metrics and positive outcomes, the question is whether we take that into the elite game,” he said.

“That is going to be a big decision, but my own feeling is that it will have to be an all or nothing.