Top referee Wayne Barnes and England manager Eddie Jones have spoken out in defence of the new tackle laws in rugby. The new laws came into effect from January 3rd and are designed to punish any contact made with a player's head, whether deliberate or otherwise.
SEE ALSO: Here's What You Need To Know About Rugby's New Tackle Laws
The new laws made headlines when Ulster played against Scarlets on January 6th as Ulster's Sean Reidy made a tackle on Scarlets' replacement scrum-half Sean Reidy on the try-line. In the past it would have been a perfectly fine tackle - but under new laws it was judged to be 'reckless', Reidy sent off on a yellow card and a penalty try given to Scarlets.
Jones and Barnes were being interviewed by BBC Radio 5 Live and both spoke in favour of the new laws, which they say will greatly improve the safety of the game.
Barnes, who last week on BT gave a brilliant demonstration of what the new laws entail (see below), said it was "important to remember" that the guidelines were brought in to "protect players' welfare, to deter players from taking the risk of hitting high around the top of the chest." He went on:
It's about encouraging the tackle to go a bit lower, and that's why players are on board with this. Referees are on board with this, coaches are on board with this. We've got to protect players' heads, so from a refereeing point of view we're massively behind it. We want to encourage players being safe.
When we started to discuss this during the World Cup in 2015 we were like, 'Yeah, we want to protect players.' When we met in November as a group of international referees, we said of course - if a player goes in with a load of force, smacks an opposition player in the head and it causes him to go down and he's injured, that's a red card today, it's a red card last year and it's a red card ten years ago.
Barnes pointed to the example of Francois Steyn's high tackle on Leinster's Johnny Sexton last week in the Champions Cup, saying that though probably accidental it was a red card offence. He emphasised that the rule is a "deterrent".
Jones made the point that he was part of the committee that came up with the rule, and said that "we've got to discourage players from being careless in those tackles."
I think those new sanctions will do that. Whilst it may bring two or three months where the game becomes quite difficult and people are upset about red and yellow cards, I think for the future of the game it's enormously important.
The game is definitely getting faster, the athletes are getting more powerful, the pitches are getting bigger, and something had to be done to make sure we're protecting the players.
When asked if he "feared for the future of rugby at all", Jones responded in the negative:
No, not at all. I think it's in great hands in World Rugby, they're taking the suitable steps to ensure the game remains safe, to ensure that kids want to keep playing rugby.
Last week, Barnes gave an excellent demonstration of how the new tackle laws work when brought onto BT Sport's rugby show (clicking the tweet below will take you off this page):
Download this week's #RugbyTonight Podcast to hear more from Wayne Barnes on the new Laws ▶️ https://t.co/XfRiWNZQsE https://t.co/oBiNgkPsEK
— Rugby Tonight (@RugbyTonight) January 13, 2017
