The decision to lower the tackle height to the sternum level is not a sudden decision by Rugby Australia, but rather a reaction to over a half-decade of research designed to improve the safety of the game.
The governing body announced the two-year trial on Friday, bringing the legal level from below the shoulders to the sternum.
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The 'community' tagline in this change needs to be stressed. It will not affect Super Rugby or Test-level Rugby, beginning at the premier club competition level (Shute Shield, Hospital Cup, John I Dent Cup etc.) and below.
It was a united front as Rugby Australia’s General Manager, Community Rugby, Michael Procajlo, Head of Community Match Officials and Super Rugby referee Graham Cooper, Brumbies Super W coach Scott Fava and Wallaroos captain Piper Duck presented the findings backed by the changes.
The decision comes after extensive trialling and research across the world as Rugby Australia sat back and learned from the likes of England, New Zealand, France and South Africa as they introduced these measures in the late 2010s.
France even went further, opting for a waist-high level at the amateur level.
What the research proved was a clear and sudden reduction in concussions, over four times less than when the limit was above the sternum. Along with this, 90% of concussions for the ball carrier were coming from direct impact from direct impact from the head.
It also made for a more open product in New Zealand, with a 65 per cent increase in offloads.
Procajlo believes they are finding an ideal balance between maintaining the physical nature of the contest and protecting players with litigations around head issues and CTE emerging across the world.
"We want to reduce the risk of concussion and overall head impacts," Procajlo said. "From a risk point of view, yes, we can't eliminate the overall risk of sustaining concussion completely. But as we've outlined with the research, this can go a long way to supporting both the ball carriers and the tacklers to reduce their overall risk of a head impact.
"We want to make the game safer, we've seen some really good encouraging results from the trials that have existed so far. We're here to support our member unions in rolling this out. We understand that it is a change and potentially will be perceived as a really big change and we want to continue to provide as much support as we can to enable, you know, still a fun and enjoyable 2024 and 2025 season.
"...From our standpoint, when you see all the other major unions across the world joining this trial and Rugby Australia's not, we'd have to have a pretty good reason as to why we're not joining the trial. Once you see information like that, and you see that you can potentially reduce the risk by 4.2 times, maybe we are opening ourselves (to legal issues if we don't adopt). it certainly wasn't a legal factor, that the legalities and lawsuits and whatnot that are happening overseas wasn't a factor in our decision. But maybe it would be used by lawyers in years to come."
Complications with the new laws were addressed by the panel in a 45-minute session with media, especially with the height of the ball carrier.
The ruling won't be enforced on pick and drives due to the low impact of force.
However, it has become prominent that ball carriers either lead with their elbow or lower their height going into contact, subsequently drawing the penalty.
The example shown was Charlotte Caslick's controversial carding in their Sydney quarter-final defeat to France in January. Caslick was yellow-carded after collecting the French player in the head despite dipping her height. Under the new laws, the French player would be sanctioned, let alone the tackler getting carded.
Cooper stressed the importance of the tackler showing the dip in body position and bending at the knees.
"They need to show a positive action and then the ball carrier needs to carry the ball with elbows close to their body," Cooper said. "We're not saying you can't fend, but you can't lead with the forearm away from your body.
"If you lead with it, lengthen your body and you make head or neck contact with the tackler, you enter the head contact framework like the attacker would...If it's a continual action from the ball carrier, and we see it to be dangerous to the tackler, they are liable for penalty kick under this."
The other pressing issue will be how players that go between the community and professional level will adust.
There was a litany of Super Rugby players that returned to their respective club competitions in June/July whilst over a dozen Wallaroos were playing in the Jack Scott Cup Final between Sydney Uni and Easts.
"It's the game we play," Wallaroo and Sydney Uni backrower Duck said.
"Moving into Super Rugby, I don't want to tackle that high anyway, because I don't want to put myself at risk of a yellow or red card either way, even now before this rule, I'm not looking to probably hit above (the stomach), no matter what because straightaway, you're at risk of falling up high on that tackle. If the player is ducking, even minimal, I am at risk of the yellow or red card.
"With rugby, the rules I would say are a challenge. It's a challenge...it's just part of the game that I'm playing now. And for me, my tackle technique actually wouldn't change at all moving from Super Rugby into Shute Shield or Jack Scott Cup.
"For me, it wouldn't be really an impacting factor on that degree...The biggest hits I’ve seen have been within that area ( below the sternum and above the waist)."
Ex-Wallaby and Brumbies Super W coach Scott Fava rejected the claims it would make the game 'soft', hopeful the changes can instead make it a better spectacle.
“The game hasn’t gone soft, we’re looking at trying to create a product that works for participation and entertainment value,” Fava said.
“The stats already show there’s 64 per cent more offloads, so if we adopt that from a game point of view, and we see more offloads and the entertainment value of the game increase as a consequence of these law changes, why not?”
When trials like this get brought in, it's only a matter of time before fans ponder whether or when these rules will come into the professional game.
"I think we need to see how things go community level over the next two years and anything in that area would probably be led by by World Rugby," Procajlo said.
"...There is a bit of a difference between the community game and the professional game with the support that the professional teams have on game day (such as) matchday doctors, concussion spotters, professional referees, third match officials, all the cameras that come with it, there's a lot more support around those matches so that if there is the potential for a head impact or suspected concussion that it can be managed a lot tighter than a game on a local community sports field in Wagga as an example.
"That's probably where it's a little bit different at the moment and whether it gets to that point in the future, I think we'll wait and see how things go with this global law trial over the next two years.
