“A blight on the game” – change the rules, or the response?

A couple of weeks ago, Shaun Edwards, defence coach extraordinaire and general grump, declared choke tackles to be “a blight on the game”. He then spoke of how dangerous they are, and how after a choke tackle there is always a scrum – and that therefore, it was obvious that they should be banned.

If the tackle is dangerous and causes injuries then it absolutely should be monitored and classed as a high tackle – although there are many other things that cause injuries in the game, and banning them might completely neuter the game as a whole. Scrums are probably just as dangerous, if not more so. Indeed, the brand of rugby seemingly universally known as “Warrenball” carries its own elements of physical peril. I am not picking on Wales, but Edwards is part of that set-up, and those in glass houses, blah blah blah...basically, where do you draw the line?

Should something be stopped if it slows the game down or makes it boring for spectators? Lots of people have called for penalties to be brought down from 3 to 2 points, so people kick them less. Well, if I were playing in a game where penalties were two points, I would suddenly be 1 point’s worth less afraid of giving away a penalty – if you reduce the points value of a penalty, their frequency would go up. You are almost better off making them worth 5 points, and then let’s see how many people commit a penalty offence repeatedly in their own half.

Going back to choke tackles, if you ban them simply because they slow the game down, you set a dangerous precedent for deciding who can dictate how the game works. They are a tactical choice a team makes, and if they slow the game down or make it boring for the average punter then so be it.

I have always held the opinion that an arm-wrestling 0-0 draw in three feet of mud should be just as entertaining as a 10 try festival of running at the end of April – we, the spectators, should be enjoying the battle to win, whatever the method. Ask yourself this question: Would you rather watch your team lose 100-99 or win 3-0?

Ultimately, safety is the most important thing. If choke tackles are genuinely abnormally dangerous or conducive to concussion, stop them. End of. There is no point taking unnecessary risks. But if you want to outlaw them because they bore you, then maybe you should be thinking about how to counter the threat of the type of tackle, rather than what happens after.

Filed under: Spirit Of The Game
Written by: Peter Randall
Follow: @uxbridgewolf · @therugbymag