Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Australia’s brightest rugby prospect Treyvon Pritchard is nearing a comeback from an ankle injury that cruelled his hopes of an international call-up, at a time World Rugby has banned the dangerous hip-drop tackle that forced the teenager to the sidelines.
With Queensland Reds general manager of high-performance Sam Cordingley confirming to this masthead Pritchard was poised to join the club on overseas tours this year, he also urged for the game in the Sunshine State to be used as an outlet to test law changes.
Pritchard’s impressive World Rugby Junior Championship campaign ended in agony with a tackling style that has become more regular in the NRL and NFL – one which involves a player using their body weight to pull a rival to the ground while impacting the back of their leg.
Wales halfback Sion Davies was not penalised for the incident, but Pritchard suffered a syndesmosis injury and broken ankle, ending any outside chance of a shock Wallabies selection on the back of his dazzling debut season for the Reds.
It did not stop the 19-year-old inking a contract extension with the Reds and Rugby Australia through to the end of 2029, despite rugby league interest from the Papua New Guinea Chiefs.
Cordingley said Pritchard was tracking well to be fully fit by round one of the Super Rugby Pacific season – where he will potentially vie for the fullback jumper in light of Jock Campbell’s reported move to Japan.
“He’s getting back, we’re hoping to take him on our tour to Japan and Italy next month. Whether or not he plays, TBC,” Cordingley said.
“The most important thing for Treyvon is he’s in good health. We anticipate he’ll be back at his best by Super Rugby next year.
“Trey can play most positions in the backline. Fullback is an obvious position, but he won’t be limited to that, I’m sure.”
While Cordingley said World Rugby should be applauded for moving swiftly on hip-drop tackles, he believed Queensland had a role to play in ensuring future changes could be tested and implemented with greater agility.
He pointed to how nimble the NRL had been in trialling and executing initiatives, and while he conceded rugby’s global nature made that more difficult to replicate, he endorsed the Queensland Premier Rugby competition as an option for World Rugby to test law tweaks.
“Let’s be innovative in Queensland. We have a terrific competition here in Queensland, and we’re open to looking at how trials can be tested, and be innovative in our competition,” he said.
Outlawing of the hip-drop tackle stems from World Rugby establishing an “expert tackle height group” following its Shape of the Game meeting in February, and will come into effect from November 1 – in time for the Wallabies’ Spring Tour, which begins against England a week later.
They confirmed the banned tackle technique would result in at least a penalty kick. Possible suspension timelines were not revealed, however Newcastle Knights hooker Phoenix Crossland received a four-game NRL ban for his tackle on Penrith Panthers superstar Nathan Cleary.
Cordingley hinted some changes in tackling would need to be instructed across the game to phase out the motion, having noticed several instances at club rugby level.
It was a notion echoed by former Ireland international Rob Kearney, who said, “while a change of this nature can be challenging to manage in the short term” it served a crucial long-term purpose.
“No one’s training hip drops. I just think it’s a function of poor technique or being in a situation where a defensive player is more stressed around potentially missing a tackle,” Cordingley said.
“In most of the instances you see where the tackle is being effected is probably from a poor read defensively and a player trying to make up for that poor read and missing that tackle, and then grasping and using their body to affect it on the basis that they’ll more than likely miss the tackle.
“The great thing now is referees will be on the lookout for it. What we saw from the Treyvon incident is that the referees – it wasn’t their fault – but they weren’t instinctively looking at it as an incident of dangerous play.
“The impact of the injury or the tackle can be pretty catastrophic.”
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