RFU warned of existential crisis as drastic school rugby changes are unveiled

The Rugby Football Union has launched a radical plan to save school rugby, which introduces three forms of the game including “reduced contact”, after an independent report predicted it will become a “declining minority sport” without bold changes. The report pulled no punches in its assessment of rugby’s diminishing standing in the “marketplace” of schools sport, stating: “This is an urgent issue approaching crisis point.” The key recommendations from the report are: There should be three versions of the game – non contact, reduced contact, full contact – with consistent rules for all formats. However, the report also identifies a decline in rugby values at the top end of the game as well as the perception that it is a sport for “posh white boys” as other compounding factors. Rugby is a game which has inspired and enthused people of both sexes, all skin colours, all social and economic backgrounds and all shapes and sizes – but that is not the perception everywhere in England.” Some heads of established rugby schools have also expressed concerns about the “macho culture” within male rugby and the report has called on Premiership academies to better promote rugby values within their communities.