‘Let’s teach kids to be really good tacklers’ – Steve Hansen on how to combat concussion in rugby following high court ruling

Former All Blacks boss Steve Hansen has called on rugby coaches to address concussion at its source, rather than leaving players to deal with the consequences.

Speaking on the Rugby Unity podcast, Hansen discussed the ongoing court case against the sport’s governing bodies, which involves 500+ ex-rugby players from both rugby union and league.

The ex-players claim that World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union, and the Welsh Rugby Union failed to put safeguards in place to protect them from the consequences of repeated head impacts.

Recently, lawyers acting for the governing bodies called on the judge to strike out the cases which do not have all the required documents, in an effort to reduce further delays ahead of the impending trial, arguing that there had been “wholesale and widespread non-compliance” with the court order to disclose all the documents.

On Friday, Senior Master Cook said that “with some hesitation” they should proceed to trial, subject to “conditions” to be decided at a further hearing, acknowledging that there were “exceptional circumstances” in the case and that it had a “particular element of public importance going beyond the individual claims”.

“A lack of understanding. I don’t think it was anybody’s fault”

The six-year legal battle continues as many former players claim to suffer from various neurological conditions that resulted from repeated impacts that occurred while playing the game.

“There was a lack of understanding. I don’t think it was anybody’s fault,” Hansen said.

“There was, at times, a lack of care when people were concussed. We didn’t know enough about it, through nobody’s fault, but because of that, there was a lack of care.”

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“The thing we’ve got to do in the game is get the ambulance to the top of the cliff and really work hard on the things that we can control.

“Preventing concussions and tackle technique anticipation, so we can move quicker and get into better body positions, rather than have it at the bottom of the cliff where we’re dealing with this sort of thing in the court. I think the medical care and the support and responsibility of coaches have improved immensely.

“I think players also have to take some ownership because no one used to report because he didn’t want to miss the next week.”

“There’s a whole lot of things that have got better, but there are still players out there that I’ve dealt with who wouldn’t report a knock, and if you didn’t see it, then how do you deal with it? Players have got a responsibility as well.”

Former British and Irish Lions star Anthony Watson recently admitted to cheating his way through a Head Injury Assessment during the Lions‘ second Test against New Zealand in 2017, proving Hansen’s point that the allure of the game can affect judgement.

He would later say: “A Lions tour happens once every four years; you may not get another opportunity, and therefore you’re not ruling yourself out.”

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Start the duty of care before concussions are caused

Again, Hansen insists that the best way to deal with this is to tackle the problem at the source – by improving the tackling itself.

“Let’s teach kids to be really good tacklers,” Hansen insisted.

“We had a boy arrive at Toyota, and he was a super player and played Super Rugby. He got knocked out, and he’s distraught because he had been knocked out a few times now, and he’s seen his career’s all over.

“I sat down and showed him the video. I said, ‘That’s why you’re getting knocked out, mate. You got your head in the wrong spot. So it’s not your head that’s the problem; it’s your technique. So let’s get your head right, and then we’ll work on your technique.’

“Well, he hasn’t been knocked out since because we fixed his technique, and that’s where the duty of care comes in.”

Hansen’s philosophy is simple: start the duty of care before the concussions happen.

READ MORE: Lions bolstered by released Springboks and new signings for All Blacks showdown