Cian Healy and Paul O’Connell have both suffered this awful injury in the past two years. Both have renown for their breakdown skills.
The modern art of jackling at the breakdown – setting the legs firmly and foraging for turnover ball – is often the winning and losing of a game.
When Ireland have prospered in recent years it is because they dominated the collision and disrupt opposition breakdowns. The ‘groundhog’, or David Pocock [pictured] is king.
Paul O’Connell developed from more of a ball-carrying lock to a ruck scavenger in the latter years of his career. It seems, however, that O’Connell’s strength became the weakness that led to his career-ending injury.
Eanna Falvey worked as Ireland’s team doctor for over six years before stepping into a more senior, consultative role with the IRFU; combining it with his work at the Sports Surgery Clinic.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Falvey talks about how jackling can lead to serious hamstring injuries. He covers the moment O’Connell ripped his hamstring off the bone as he shipped a clear-out tackle at the breakdown.
Falvey says, “You can actually see it on the video. It was pretty graphic.” He continues:
“The hamstring tendon problem, where it’s pulled off the bone, in rugby that’s almost exclusively in a ruck position.
“You have a guy trying to get into a jackal position to win turnover ball. His trunk is flexed, his knee is extended or straight, and he’s bent at the hip.
“He is stretching his hamstring at full-length, and then somebody tries to clear him out by driving him backwards and the hamstring is pulled through supraphysiological range, and the weak link between muscle tendon and bone is usually the musclo-tendinous junction, where it rips.”
When you listen to that description, it is a wonder that Healy, who tore his hamstring off the bone in 2014, ever came back or 36-year-old O’Connell ever considered it.
Another area of the game – along with the Head Injury Assessments – World Rugby need to look at.
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