The Fiji Rugby Union has now placed all secondary schools and provincial unions under a scrum moratorium.
The FRU has taken this step from the 1st of this month due to the alarming number of catastrophic injuries during rugby matches and training.
FRU CEO Manasa Baravilala said the key part of this safety initiative is the on-field rulings by the referees.
The national rugby union’s Coaching Director, Frank Boivert said the moratorium is in place to ensure the safety of all rugby players in Fiji.
Category A competitions who will be able to use the scrum rules that are played internationally will be the Digicel Cup Seniors and the Under 20 grade.
Category B includes the Under 18 and Under 19 secondary schools rugby competition.
It is now mandatory that they play the IRB Under 19 law variation which stipulates that the scrum cannot be pushed more than 1.5 metres, and the scrum half cannot follow the ball in the scrum.
However there is a strict requirement for Under 18 and Under 19 coaches.
They will need to be Level 1 IRB certified or they will need to play with the Safe Mode of Scrum.
Boivert said a secondary school coach will need to demonstrate his ability to teach safe scrum and safe tackling to contest the scrum.
The Safe Mode of Scrum will be - crouch, positioning, pause and play.
There have been four reported catastrophic injuries at age level rugby in the first six months of this year.
The four students are aged between 14 to 19 years with the youngest injured player aged 14.
Apart from these four, two players have suffered catastrophic injuries at club level competition.
All these cases are serious spinal or head injuries.
There have also been two deaths at club rugby level this year.
One was in Lautoka while the other was in Labasa.
The cause of these two deaths is not known.
Story by: Vijay Narayan
