Maybe it"s time schoolboys gave hands-off rugby a try

Short of the outright ban on scrummaging and tackling in schoolboy rugby

suggested by Prof Pollock, it is hard to know what to do about the

adolescent mismatches of size and heft that inevitably occur. Rugby-fanciers

would argue that the game has always been expansive enough to accommodate a

range of physical types, from the whippety Jonny Wilkinson to the ox-like

Sébastien Chabal.

But as the ambition of the school game increases (these days the rewards are

glamorous overseas tours rather than tarnished bits of silverware), the

professionalism of the training regime has necessarily to keep up: protein

shakes and diet plans have replaced the traditional pre-match drag on a

Rothman’s in the lee of the school bus – and the risks have taken on a

professional aspect, too.

Every serious injury is a tragedy for the boy involved and the people who love

him. A ban on contact rugby for school players would certainly eliminate

that modest but significant risk. But at what cost? As the great schoolboy

philosopher, Nigel Molesworth, observed: “Your side always gets beaten

whichever skool you are at. That is like life i supose.”

Article source: http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12507/8844858/perpignan-star-james-hook-determined-to-force-wales-recall

Maybe it"s time schoolboys gave hands-off rugby a try