The Champions Cup Round of 16 playoffs were shaped to a farcical degree by red cards, yellow cards, high hits, late hits and shoulder charges. In the eight second leg matches there were five reds and fifteen yellows, and there should have been at least two more reds. That, by any measure, is a daft way for a sport to go about its business. To put this in historical context it took 102 years of international rugby before an Irish player got sent off (Willie Duggan in 1977) and another 33 years for it to happen again when Jamie Heaslip…

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Appetite for destruction: How rugby is trying to change its ways and why some players keep offending

The lazy view is that collisions, and therefore head collisions, are such a fundamental part of rugby that they can't ever be fully removed from the game. Players know the risks, this argument goes. But they don't because we still don't know enough about concussion.

7th May, 2022 - 5 min read

Simon Hick

Contributing Writer

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