A high tackle is an illegal
tackling move in
rugby football
Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league.
Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...
. A high tackle occurs when a player tackles or attempts to tackle an opponent whereby their arm makes contact with the ball carrier’s chest.
The move is dangerous due to the risk of injury to the head and neck of the player being tackled.
Rugby Union
High tackles are illegal in all variations of
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
play, including
sevens variation and
tens variation. According to
World Rugby laws, "a player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously. Dangerous tackling includes, but is not limited to, tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders."
A player may receive a range of sanctions in response to an illegal high tackle, ranging from a penalty, yellow card, or red card.
As per a 2011 World Rugby memorandum on the topic,
"A player must not tackle (or try to tackle) an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders. A tackle around the opponent’s neck or head is dangerous play."
Reducing player injuries sustained from high tackles has long been a goal of World Rugby.
In May 2019, World Rugby release
a decision-making framework for high tacklesto assist players and referees in avoiding illegal high tackles and appropriately sanctioning players who commit this infraction.
The result of the framework's implementation was a 37% reduction in the number of tackle-related concussion incidents per 1,000 player hours at the 2019 World Cup compared to the previous year, with an overall 28% reduction in concussion incidents.
In August of 2019, World Rugby announced that reducing tackle height to waist level was one of several trial laws under consideration for implementation by the
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb ...
in 2023.
Under the new rule, any tackle above the waist would now be considered a high tackle. The rationale for this rule change offered by World Rugby is that "forcing players to tackle lower may reduce the risk of head injuries to both the tackler and tackled player," as well as encouraging more offloads and expansive play. Initial trials of this rule change from the
Fédération Française de Rugby (FFR) has had positive results, showing that reduction of permissible tackling to waist height reduces the number of head impacts and player injuries.
Rugby League
High tackles are illegal in
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
play. As per
International Rugby League (IRL) laws, a player is guilty of misconduct if they, "when effecting or attempting to effect a tackle makes contact with the head or neck of an opponent intentionally, recklessly or carelessly."
In 2019, the
Australian Rugby League Commission
The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...
(ARLC), the governing body of the
National Rugby League (NRL) cracked down on 'crusher tackles', a particularly dangerous type of high tackle in which a defender forces a player’s head towards their torso in contact.
Numerous similar crackdowns on types of dangerous tackles, like high tackles, have occurred in an effort to make the game safer.
A related infraction in rugby league is the
shoulder charge, which involves contact to the shoulder or upper arm without an attempt to tackle. A player is guilty of misconduct if they use a shoulder charge, which is defined as when "a defender, without attempting to tackle, grab or hold the ball-carrier (or any opposing player) using the arms or hands, makes direct physical contact with the shoulder or the upper arm (tucked into the side)."
See also
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Penalty box
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Glossary of rugby league terms
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Glossary of rugby union terms
Rugby union is a team sport played between two teams of fifteen players.
This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of rugby union. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. ...
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Dump tackle
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Spear tackle
A spear tackle is an illegal tackle in rugby union, rugby league and Australian rules football in which a player lifts another player into the air and drops them so that they land on their back, head or neck. Spear tackles have caused serious inju ...
References
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Rugby league terminology
Rugby union terminology
Banned sports tactics