Spinal injuries prompt calls for scrum reform

Outspoken former Wallabies coach Alan Jones has come up with a controversial method to curb rugby-related spinal injuries -- ban scrums.

The scrum is a cornerstone of rugby but Jones, who also coached rugby league side South Sydney before devoting his energies to broadcasting, has urged Australian administrators to rethink the set piece.

Speaking on his Sydney radio breakfast show, Jones said: "Unless you are completely hopeless, the team putting the ball in the scrum wins the ball back.

"So if there's an injury problem then perhaps the game has to think about getting rid of the scrum altogether.

"If a scrum is an instrument to restart the game, and the team in possession before the scrum is the team in possession after the scrum, then why submit the body to that kind of risk?"

Jones' comments follow a Medical Journal of Australia study that showed seven of the 23 rugby players who sustained acute spinal cord injuries between 1997 and 2002 were related to scrums.

Overall, 52 players across rugby union, rugby league, Australian Rules Football (AFL) and soccer were admitted to spinal units around the country over the period researched by five surgeons.

Twenty of the players became permanently wheelchair-dependant. The report found there had been scrum injuries in rugby league since 1996, when the scrum stopped being contested.

It also pointed out six of the seven rugby union scrum injuries came at initial engagement of the two packs with the other from a scrum collapse.

The surgeons concluded there was "good reason to revise the laws of scrum engagement in rugby union".

Previous research for 1986-1996 showed there were 11 acute spinal cord injuries sustained in rugby union scrums and 19 from other areas of the game.

There were 33 acute spinal cord injuries in rugby league during the first study and just 10 in the second. The other codes showed: AFL (12 and 13) and soccer (1 and 4).

However, the number of registered rugby union players almost doubled between 1985 and 2002. Rugby league playing numbers dropped by 23 per cent.

While concern on the medical front remains high, the annual average of serious spinal cord damage per 100,000 players has dropped slightly in both rugby codes.

In rugby league it dropped from 2.4 in the first study to 1.5. Rugby union was down from 3.5 to 3.2.

An Australian Rugby Union (ARU) spokesman told The Daily Telegraph newspaper the incidence of scrum injuries had continued to fall since the end of 2002.

"We've also introduced a compulsory safety certification programme for every coach at every level," he said.

The last serious scrum injury in rugby union forced Wallabies prop Ben Darwin to retire after the 2003 World Cup semifinal against the All Blacks.

Darwin escaped permanent damage, crediting All Blacks opposite Kees Meeuws for releasing pressure when a scrum collapsed.

- NZPA