World Rugby clarifies law on dangerous tackles

The World Rugby Executive Board has approved a law amendment and a law application guideline confirming that two relatively rare, but dangerous tackle techniques, will now be subject to sanction.

The “hip drop” tackle, where a tackler uses their bodyweight to pull a player to ground and drops onto the legs of a ball carrier from behind, will be explicitly added to foul play law and will be sanctioned with at least a penalty kick. The “knee drop” tackle, where a player drops to one or both knees before making a tackle, will be highlighted to players, coaches and match officials as an action already covered in law and can also be sanctioned with a penalty.

Investigating the “hip drop” tackle was an outcome of February’s Shape of the Game meeting. World Rugby established an expert tackle height working group which also took on responsibility for investigating “hip drop” and later “knee drop” tackles and commissioned research with Leeds Beckett University. The group, which also reviewed the trials of a lower tackle height in the U20 World Championships, commissioned research and game analysis from a rugby around the world in both sevens and fifteens. The working group recommended to Executive Board that the law around these dangerous tackles be clarified.

On the new law amendments World Rugby Chair Brett Robinson said: “We’re grateful to unions for raising the issue of these types of tackle with us. My thanks go to the working group and wider World Rugby team for the speed and breadth of their research and analysis. These changes show the commitment across the globe to player welfare in rugby in action.

“Once we looked at the evidence, it was clear the hip drop tackles whilst rare, could cause significant leg injuries. It was also clear that knee drop tackles were on the rise.

“Protecting player welfare is at the heart of everything that World Rugby does and once we’d reviewed the analysis we’ve acted quickly to ensure that dangerous tackles of this nature are removed from the game, starting this weekend.”

Former Ireland international and International Rugby Players Association representative on the World Rugby Executive Board Rob Kearney said: "While a change of this nature can be challenging to manage in the short term as players, coaches and match officials adjust, this decision has been taken to protect players from potential serious injury, and that's the right thing to do."

World Rugby will amend Law 9.13 to explicitly include “hip drop” tackles within the definition of dangerous play, with a sanction of penalty. Click here for the full wording.

On “knee drop” tackle, under existing tackle law , it is prohibited to make a tackle while on the ground. Therefore, World Rugby has introduced a Law Application Guideline to reinforce the application of these provisions and support consistent officiating across the game. Click here for the full wording.

World Rugby members (non voting)