In rugby, the tackler is 2.6 times more likely to receive a concussion than the ball carrier.
Additionally, the risk of a head injury to the tackler is 4.3 times higher when it’s a legal, but higher, tackle (between the sternum and shoulder) and 50 per cent more likely if you’re upright rather than bent at the waste.
For that reason, World Rugby is reportedly considering making a radical change to the tackle laws that could see players who get concussed get a double dose of salt onto the wound by also being suspended.
In the fight against concussion, World Rugby wants to put the onus on the tackler’s technique and phase out upright tackles as their solution.
Why?
There are more head injuries in the sport from head to hip than head to head, but head to head is more dangerous.
World Rugby’s 2016 study — which analysed 611 concussions from 1516 matches between 2013-2015 — found that a player is 6.5 times more likely to get injured in a head-to-head impact rather than a head-to-hip.