There is no easy answer to rugby's worrying injury trends, so says the players' union, which has been urgently trying to find out why there has been such a high casualty toll in the first six weeks of the season. Gavin Mairs writes in the Daily Telegraph.
"Such has been the attritional start to the campaign that leading clubs such as Leicester and Wasps were barely able to field competitive sides in European action at the weekend. Leicester could muster only 24 fit players from a squad of 38 for Sunday's Heineken Cup match against the Ospreys while Wasps have only 25 players fit out of their 38-man squad.
"...It all follows a warning from the Lions doctor James Robson at the end of the tour to South Africa in July that players had become "too muscle-bound and too bulky" and had got "too big for their skill levels".
"David Barnes, the Bath prop and chairman of the players' union, which changed from the Professional Rugby Association into the Rugby Players' Association on Monday, said there was "no quick fix" to the problem, despite the ongoing work to improve player welfare."
RSS feed
