Wales and Harlequins powerhouse centre Jamie Roberts has blamed the new law changes for the current injury crisis sweeping across the Aviva Premiership.
A-League games have been cancelled and Harlequins and London Irish trained together this week due to a lack of numbers.
Wasps and Bath’s clash at the Ricoh Arena over the weekend a perfect example with both sides were missing at least 13 players apiece.
Roberts, who is a qualified Doctor has his own theory on the sudden surge of injuries.
‘The ball in play time is higher. The collisions are tough, everyone can see there’s been quite a few injuries. The physio room has resembled a bit of a morgue at times,” Roberts said in The Daily Mail
“One thing I have noticed is defences during first, second and third phases are not competing for the ball. They are just making that tackle and filling the field so there’s not too much space out there to try and exploit.”
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“And that means there’s a lot of two-man collisions, you’re getting halted by a couple of blokes rather than one.”
“Whether that has an influence on the injury rate, I don’t know, it’s hard to quantify. The game has always been attritional, it’s never been too different and we carry on.”
‘There are not many who get through their whole career without having to have an operation. I think you’re only 100 per cent fit in your first game of rugby.”