Peter Winterbottom believes that the RFU‘s new tackle height laws are pointless because community rugby never had a problem with high tackles before.
The tenacious former England flanker now serves as director of rugby at Esher and believes his side have suffered more injuries because of the base of the sternum height limit law change that was implemented at the start of this season.
Winterbottom, 63, told The Rugby Paper: “At our level tackling is low, and it was low last season before the change. High tackles were rare and were penalised severely, so all the law has done is create more penalties in the game for tackles that aren’t dangerous.
“We had a guy carried off last week because a guy went for his knee in a tackle. His knee is busted, and he’ll be out for the rest of the season and needs an operation.”
Winterbottom also believes the new law has inadvertently led to more concussions in Esher’s squad.
He added: “I don’t think the new laws have helped protect our players from concussion. We possibly had only one concussion last season from a headon-head collision, but this season we’ve had multiple concussions from head on knee and head on hip collisions, including two concussions in one game where our players were carried off, and one player is still out from four weeks ago, so whatever the research says it hasn’t helped us.”
Esher have won their last seven games and came into this weekend sitting top of National Two East, and Winterbottom believes Esher have now adapted to the new tackle laws and stiffened their defence.
He said: “We were a bit soft in the early few games of the season, we were scoring a lot of points but conceding lots. Recently we’ve managed to tighten up our defence and it’s made a hell of a difference to our game. We now know we can defend our 30-yard area confidently and be potent in attacking areas.
“There was a big problem early on in the season with the new tackle law, and we’re finally come to terms with that now, you have to tackle low or you’re giving away penalties. There’s been a technical adjustment in our two-man tackles, with the second player not going too high anymore. It’s taken a long time for the players to adjust as it’s not what they’re used to.”
Despite Esher’s fine form, Winterbottom has urged the players to remain calm and not to get carried away with any thoughts about promotion.
He said: “I said to the lads after Dorking, we’ve got to keep our feet on the ground, there’s a lot of good teams to beat in the second half of the season, we’ve got to keep working hard, maintain our good form and avoid injuries.”
Esher’s primary goal is of course to be promoted back to National One in the club’s centenary year after being relegated from the third tier last season.
He said: “Being relegated last season was a disappointment because we weren’t in National One for the club’s centenary season, but that’s the way it happened. It would certainly be nice in the centenary season to get promoted, so that’s everyone’s hope.”
