All Blacks player Sam Cane said that "growing concerns about concussions, coupled with the harder line taken by World Rugby on contact with the head, could make players think twice before blasting into tackles to dominate collisions," according to Greg Stutchbury of REUTERS. Cane "was at the centre of a storm" last November when he "inadvertently made contact" with the head of Ireland player Robbie Henshaw during their match in Dublin. Henshaw was knocked unconscious and "stood down due to concussion and while the New Zealand flanker was penalised at the time and then cited, he was cleared of any wrongdoing at a disciplinary hearing." Cane: "Rugby is about dominating collisions but if we are risking concussions then it's not really worth it. The biggest collisions happen when you try to make a dominant tackle and tackle with a lot of force and it's hard to adjust late, so we're going to have to be slightly more passive." Earlier this month, World Rugby "ordered referees to take a harder line regarding tackles that make contact with the head in an effort to combat growing concerns over concussion." Cane added that his "own experience of dealing with concussion had brought it home the importance of player safety" (REUTERS, 1/31).
