IRELAND OUT-HALF Jonathan Sexton was left baffled by the notion that tackling could be banned from schools rugby.

An open letter to the British government, signed by 70 doctors, urged schools to adopt only non-contact forms of the game for under 18s.

Speaking about the news on The Anton Savage Show this morning, Sexton said:

“I don’t think you can play rugby without tackling, then it’s not going to be rugby.”

Of course, the Leinster and Ireland playmaker is no stranger to being the centre of arguments about the safety of the sport. And having spoken about his frustration of carrying the ‘concussion-prone’ label last week, he added:

“Look, I think the only thing I can say about it is that the IRFU, who look after us
unbelievably well, they are taking every measure to make sure that player
welfare is top of the list and they’re doing everything they can.

“And they’re actually leading the way internationally with looking after players with
concussion. That’s why it was so frustrating for me, people suggesting that I was playing through concussion or people were hiding a concussion; it was more offensive to the doctors and to the IRFU than it was to me.”

After speaking publicly today to promote Three’s partnership with Focus Ireland, Sexton will have the rest of the week off to recover from a disappointing three-game run in the Six Nations when injury has never been far away.

“This week we’ve got a bit of a break. We trained Monday and Tuesday – against the Irish 20s yesterday. Now we’ve the rest of the week off to try and get our bodies back together, get the mind refreshed and ready to go for next week.”

Listen to the full interview with Sexton on TodayFM.com here

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