Lower tackle height to be trialled at Under-20 worlds

Munster's Alex Nankivell makes a tackle. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan.

After a successful trial in community rugby, a lower "sternum tackle height" is to be introduced into the elite game for the first time at next year's World Under-20 championships in Georgia, World Rugby says.

The sport's governing body said that trials over the last two seasons in 11 countries showed a change in player behaviour, resulting in up to 10% reduction in upright tackles, with some unions reporting a reduction in concussion rates, albeit over a single season.

The rule will become mandatory for the community game from July 2026 and will get a first professional test at the Georgia U-20s event in June, when other aspects of the tackle will also be trialled.

They include allowing for “pick and go” actions near rucks and for players in the act of scoring, where the sternum becomes much harder to tackle below due to the lower ball carrier.

"Unions have asked us to trial lower tackle height... it is important to stress that we’re a long, long way from changing the law at the elite level at this point," World Rugby Chief Player Welfare and Rugby Services Officer Mark Harrington said.

"However, if this and subsequent trials show positive results across all player welfare, player feedback and fan enjoyment perspectives, then as a sport we need to embrace that.” 

Rugby has been trying to evolve the tackle and contact aspects of the sport for several years against a backdrop of an ongoing lawsuit from more than 1,100 players who claim various governing bodies were negligent in not informing players of the risk of long-term brain injury or not taking reasonable action to protect them.

Meanwhile ex-Leicester Tigers boss Richard Cockerill has been let go by Georgia rugby following Saturday’s 52-0 Challenge Cup hammering by Connacht at the Dexcom Stadium.

It was the second successive defeat for the Tbilisi franchise in this season’s tournament, and it came after a November for the Georgia national side that ended with a last-gasp 23-25 home defeat to Japan following wins over Canada and the USA.

It was January 2024 when the former Tigers coach agreed to join the Georgians after a short-lived role with Montpellier following his exit from Steve Borthwick’s England at the end of the 2023 Six Nations.

The 54-year-old said: “I would like to thank the Georgian Rugby Union for the honour of being the head coach of the Georgian national team and the franchise, the ‘Black Lions’, for two years.

“Ioseb Tkemaladze, the former president of the Georgian Rugby Union, invited me and I personally thank him for this opportunity. In April 2025, Davit Kacharava became the new president of the Georgian Football Federation. He has a different vision for the development of the Georgian national team and I respect his decision.

“I personally wish him and his team success in their future endeavours. I am proud of my time as head coach of the Georgian national team. I have created a solid foundation for the team’s future and I am leaving it in a better position than it was before."

On Saturday he said: “The Black Lion franchise, this is our fourth year of existence, we have a domestic league of 10 teams that is okay but needs to improve and this is a team that is bridging the game between club rugby in Georgia and Test matches.

“It’s a really important project for us and look, we have shown it on a world stage, as we did against Japan a couple of weeks ago, that we can compete against some good sides and we look forward to going to the World Cup in two years’ time and hopefully developing along the way even though we don’t get as much opportunities as we would like.

Reuters