This sport has a self-confessed safety problem - could flashing mouthguards be the answer?

Rugby chiefs person admitted to Sky News their athletics is not "incredibly safe" owed to the "high hazard of injuries", portion insisting players should beryllium encouraged they are prioritising addressing concussion concerns.

The candour connected the dangers from caput collisions comes up of the Women's Rugby World Cup starting successful England adjacent week.

At that tournament, for the archetypal clip astatine a World Cup, astute mouthguards volition flash reddish if they observe imaginable concussions that necessitate further appraisal by measuring the unit and question from a caput impact.

"We could instrumentality our caput successful the soil and unreal thing doesn't exist, but that's not going to assistance anybody," World Rugby subject and aesculapian manager Dr Lindsay Starling told Sky News.

"It is simply a athletics that has a precocious hazard of injuries and that comes from the carnal interaction quality of the game, which is besides what we each emotion astir watching it. And truthful that can't beryllium ignored.

"We can't unreal that the athletics is incredibly harmless and there's nary hazard of injury. And truthful by creating much consciousness erstwhile determination has been a important caput knock, that's important to amended people."

There is an anticipation 1 subordinate per lucifer could beryllium removed owed to imaginable caput wounded astatine the World Cup, which opens with England playing the US successful Sunderland adjacent Friday.

Players would past permission the transportation for a caput wounded assessment. Footage is past analysed to spot however dependable players are aft the impact.

Then they would beryllium asked a bid of questions to trial representation and concentration. Players are asked to retrieve words from a database work retired and to repetition numbers successful a antithetic sequence.

A captious clip for rugby

Rugby being truthful candid astir the imaginable risks from caput injuries comes arsenic the athletics is facing ineligible action from much than 700 mostly antheral erstwhile players who assertion leaders were negligent successful failing to instrumentality tenable enactment to support them from encephalon injuries.

The lawsuit is progressing dilatory with challenges, including astir historical aesculapian records.

"Concussion is evidently incredibly serious," Dr Starling said astatine the England squad HQ astatine Twickenham.

"It's perfectly our fig 1 precedence successful presumption of knowing wherefore they hap and doing what we tin to trim that.

"The different broadside of that argument, though, is that we cognize this information. It would beryllium much scary oregon much of a interest if we didn't cognize that."

World Rugby believes pistillate players are much susceptible to being concussed than their antheral counterparts but astatine "much little magnitudes".

They are inactive exploring why. It could beryllium owed to carnal differences successful cervix spot and humor travel metabolic rates, oregon it could harvester with pistillate players accessing much method grooming aboriginal on.

Parental interest implicit women's game

But however does the spectre of encephalon injuries chime with the ngo of the World Cup to super-charge the women's crippled successful England, by expanding the assemblage and encouraging youngsters to play?

Especially with those flashing mouthguards informing of imaginable concussions.

Dr Starling admits it creates a concern. But to parents doubting whether their children should instrumentality up rugby, there's an effort to connection immoderate reassurances from those overseeing safety, citing enhanced technology.

"We've ne'er been successful a concern wherever we cognize much astir what the hazard is," World Rugby main aesculapian serviceman Dr Eanna Falvey told Sky News.

"That volition amended implicit time, truthful our occupation is to springiness parents the autonomy to marque a determination that they tin astir their daughter's playing.

Ferocity astatine the bosom of rugby

"If their girl wants to play, we privation to assistance them get astatine a determination that they're blessed with the level of vulnerability the girl has and what they tin bash astir it.

"There's a batch of wellness dangers from not being progressive successful sport. Physical inactivity is the biggest wellness interest successful the Western satellite close now.

"So being progressive with squad athletics has immense benefits."

And Prof Falvey emphasised the essence of rugby is, astatine times, the ferocity.

"It's a interaction sport," helium said. "Nobody shies distant from that fact. I deliberation radical who play the crippled play it due to the fact that they privation to play interaction sports. Our occupation is to marque that crippled arsenic harmless arsenic we can."