Demise of Sam Warburton inevitable as it is sad in rugby's wrecking machine era

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  • Injury has taken its toll on Wales' Sam Warburton.

    The news of a 29-year-old retiring in any walk of life would generally come as a shock to most.

    Even in sporting circles, common wisdom generally dictates that careers for most span into their 30s and even beyond.

    However, in the case of Sam Warburton, there was a saddening air of inevitability surrounding his decision to call time on his rugby playing days.

    The Welsh back-row has been dogged throughout his career with a catalogue of injuries so long it would make a stuntman wince.

    Just a cursory glance shows everything from knee and ankle damage, hamstring issues in both legs, a broken jaw, fractured cheekbone, dislocated shoulder, nerve damage, stingers – all this in less than ten years, and we are only scratching the surface.

    Then you come on to hot topics the game is still coming to terms with – concussion and neck injuries.

    While head injuries are at the forefront of player safety conversation, Warburton managed to come away from the game relatively unscathed in that regard – with the only notable occurrence coming in a clash with England back in 2016. What has really ravaged the Cardiff Blues man is a persistent neck issue, that has required surgery on more than one occasion.

    Rugby is probably leading the way in terms of head injury protocols. Awareness on the field from players, officials and medical staff is excellent, and the return-to-play protocols ensure those affected are not put back in the firing line before they are fit and well to do so.

    Neck injuries are a different matter – but could have even more catastrophic consequences for those involved. There have been clampdowns on contact around the head and neck area in the tackle, but it’s on the ground where Warburton was most at risk.

    The 74-times capped openside was a trailblazer when it comes to flank play in the northern hemisphere. He was a new breed of professional, who would eat, sleep and breathe rugby, shunning everything except what would go into making him the very best player possible.

    And sadly this comes at a cost.

    Warburton’s muscularity is more akin to that of a racehorse than it is a human. A superbly, some may say overly, developed muscular structure meant his frame carried 5 to 6kg in weight more than he would normally be comfortable with. Rugby these days is a land of the giants, and particularly in the forwards, only the biggest and strongest survive.

    Sam Warburton

    This strength that Warburton held allowed him to get into positions others couldn’t in the ruck. His low body position would allow for the scavenging he built his career on but with that came a huge level of openness to hits in the clear out, with the neck and shoulder areas being particularly susceptible.

    It is one of rugby’s great cliches to put the ‘body on the line’, but this was Warburton’s modus operandi. Rugby is termed a contact sport but that’s nonsense. It’s a collision sport, with the science in place to back that up. Lab testing has shown these hits can be similar in velocity to being hit by a car, time and time again.

    For the paying public these collisions are the epitome of beautiful destruction. Thoroughbreds taking part in the ultimate test of physical domination. For the combatants the toll of their toil is stark. Sadly it’s only truly brought to widespread public consumption when a career is cut short as with Warburton.

    The question to ask now has to be: is this the norm? Are careers destined to be a decade or less? Is that what we want the game to be?

    If the size and strength of players remain, the answer to the above is an unequivocal ‘yes’. And there is little the authorities can do about that. Their fear is continued law changes will only serve to dilute the game people love, and that’s a more than valid argument.

    For things to change there would need to be a complete mentality shift in the way the game is played, but even that is a flawed argument. People hark back to the days of smaller players, a faster game, with more emphasis on handling than collision. However in today’s professional era players have been honed into weapons: they are faster, often more nimble, and have the handling skills of the past, but packed as 100kg plus wrecking machines.

    This is rugby in 2018. The dangers are very real and will seemingly not go away. That is what this beloved sport has become and while we must continue to do all we can to protect player welfare there has to be the realisation that injury levels are down to an evolutionary change, that is now almost impossible to reverse.

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