World Rugby to Trial Lower Tackle Height in 2026 U20 Championship

World Rugby announced plans Monday to trial a lower legal tackle height at the sternum level in elite competition for the first time during the 2026 World Rugby Under-20 Men's Championship in Georgia. The event, scheduled for next summer, will serve as a controlled test of the measure, which has shown promising results in community-level trials across 11 unions over the past two seasons.

Those community experiments demonstrated shifts in player behavior, including an 8 to 10 percent reduction in upright tackles. Officials from some unions, including the Irish Rugby Football Union, reported lower concussion rates during the initial season of implementation, though data remains preliminary. Based on these findings, World Rugby's Executive Board recommended that the opt-in trials become mandatory law at the community level starting July 2026, a proposal now awaiting approval from the organization's Council.

The Under-20 Championship trial expands on this framework through a closed environment, allowing teams, referees and players to adapt uniformly without switching between rule sets, a challenge noted in prior experiments. An intensive education and training program will precede...