Tackle Height Variation information

USA Rugby announced in April 2024 that the sanction line for dangerous tackles will be lowered to the sternum. This brings the USA in line with other countries who have implemented similar law variations in the interest of player safety.

World Rugby’s reasoning

Per World Rugby’s page:

The trialling of the tackle height is the result of over six years of research into injuries which occur during the tackle.

The tackle is the most injurious part of the game:

• 74% of head injuries derive from the tackle area
• approximatly 70% of head injuries which occur as a result of the tackle relate to the tackler
• the risk of suffering a concussion in the tackle is 4.2 times higher when the tackler’s head is above the ball carrier’s sternum.

Research shows that lowering the tackle height significantly reduces head-on-head contacts as well as concussions.

Trials in France resulted in a 64% reduction in head-on-head contacts and a 23% reduction in suspected concussions.

This trial has been active in the community game in countries like France, Scotland, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.

USA Rugby resources

USA Rugby has provided the following resources:

• A one-pager with the highlights of the trial
• A video discussion

  with a brief explanation of the new Law, followed by two 15 minute conversations with a Coach (Colm Finnegan, IRFU) and a Referee (Keith Lewis, World Rugby) outlining their experience of implementing the Law Variations in their own countries and answering some common questions you may have about how to approach things.

The 2024-2025 Game Management Guidelines also covers this topic.