Alwyn Poole: Head injuries in schoolboy First XV rugby - the case for no one under 17 playing highest grade

OPINION

I have sat on these thoughts for more than six months and cannot, in good conscience, do so any longer.

Last year, I was invited to Tauranga Boys’ College to watch Hamilton Boys’ High School challenge the home team, who had recently won a high-prestige trophy called the Moascar Cup. The last time Tauranga won it was in 1995 when I was a young teacher co-coaching the 1st XV.

I had played rugby growing up but had been advised to stop as a 21-year-old after what had appeared to be a relatively low-level concussion. After discussing some other head impact occasions the doctor simply stated: “If you intend to use your brain as a part of your career then you will not play contact sport again.”

That was 35 years ago and we now know a lot more about the types of collisions that can cause concussion and we are learning a great deal more about both the immediate and cumulative effects of such impacts.

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We now have much more evidence that concussions do not require a head knock but merely a deceleration from a body impact that forces the soft mass of the brain to thump against the hard matter of the skull. This turns the brain’s defence mechanism - a hard skull - against itself.

There are two points to note on youth contact sport and the brain in Bill Bryson’s wonderful new book The Body. He notes that a teenager’s brain is only about 80 per cent completed and some development is to do with impulse control and risk aversion.

He also notes: “The brain is also easily injured by being dashed against the skull by sudden violence. These injuries appear on the opposite side from the point of impact because the brain is flung against its own protective casing... such injuries are particularly common in contact sports. If they are severe or repeated they can spawn a degenerative brain condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).”

Piers Francis of the Blues gets attention after being concussed during a 2017 Super Rugby match between the Stormers and the Blues at Newlands. Photo / Gavin Barker, Photosport

Again - these do not have to be direct knocks to the head.

Rugby has changed significantly. At the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the average All Black weighed 16.7kg more than their mid-1950s counterparts. The patterns of play are also vastly different.

I was privileged to play against the All Blacks - disguised as Auckland - in 1987 just after the first Rugby World Cup. The game was about deception, pace, and ball skills - at times it was simply hard to find someone to tackle.

In terms of collisions from the 1987 World Cup to the 2019 version, average team carries increased from 86 to 115; tackles from 48 to 129; and rucks from 25 to 82.

Twenty years ago the key combined skill set was to create a gap or overlap - it is now about pummelling the opposition into submission through repetitive bullrush runs. Even commentators complain that a team lacks patience if they only get through 12 such phases.

Alwyn Poole. Photo / Steven McNicholl

This brings me back to Tauranga Boys’ College v Hamilton Boys’ High School for the Moascar Cup. They were two teams made up of highly-trained and, in some cases, massive young men. Like all aspiring young sportspeople, they mimic what they see in elite sport. Like Super Rugby and much international play, it was player after player repetitively throwing themselves at defensive walls.

Someone charging forward at 25km/h weighing 110kg (or more) - met by a similar-sized individual running up as fast as he can - creates a huge, fully intentional, violent collision.

The courage had to be admired as all players were clearly committed, and in 1st XV rugby there can be three-year age gaps and large discrepancies in size and development (including those precious brains).

The game was keenly contested but was not creative, nor did the team patterns allow individual skill sets to be highlighted. As the game went on players picked themselves off the ground, after each collision, at visibly slower rates.

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Keep in mind these young men can play up to 25 games a year and also have contact training. I came away from the game cringing in fear of some of the damage the young men are likely to have incurred, and thinking of what my doctor said to me many years ago.

I do not see an easy solution and every individual and family involved in this contact sport need to do some serious thinking - as do the schools playing at these levels. They need to participate in research and be as close to the medical people as possible.

Player availability decisions need to be made without coach influence (or that of parents).

When coaching the Auckland University Premier men’s team in the early 2000s, our physio made all availability decisions - including during the games. On occasion, I would have been tempted to make different decisions and I would have been wrong.

I believe high-level 1st XV rugby should be exclusively for 17- and 18-year-olds. If that means some younger players miss out temporarily and play in a development side then it is worth avoiding the collision risks for that initial disappointment.

It is worth also considering whether anyone should be playing Super Rugby who is under 22 years old.

How to alter the game to reduce impacts needs consideration. The health of humans is more important than the “good of the game”.

Rugby is a game that has been important to the way of life in New Zealand. Sometimes new knowledge comes around that needs to be fully considered and acted upon.

- Alwyn Poole operates Innovative Education Consultants.