Courtney Lawes: Rugby needs to become ‘unapologetic’ about what ‘makes it great’

England-downplay-Courtney-Lawes-absence-ahead-of-World-Cup-opener

Former England forward Courtney Lawes believes that rugby needs to be more “unapologetic” about the physicality of the game in order to grow.

Lawes hung up his international boots after the 2023 Rugby World Cup and has been renowned as one of the hardest-hitting players in the game over the last decade.

Rugby has come under a spotlight recently in the United Kingdom with calls for the sport to be banned at schools, an argument made by Eric Anderson, a professor at The University of Winchester, who claimed that allowing children to play the sport is “a form of child abuse.”

“Rugby is a dangerous game”

Meanwhile, Lawes believes that rugby needs to embrace the physical nature of the sport and should not shy away from promoting the big hits and intricacies.

“We need to grow rugby as a business, as a sport and as a form of entertainment that people really want to get stuck into. We do that by leaning into all the different aspects that make rugby exciting: the speed of the players, passing skills, the line breaks, the turnovers, the respect, the camaraderie — and the raw physicality,” Lawes wrote in his Times column.

“Rugby is a dangerous game and people like that. The fan favourites are always the players most willing to put their bodies on the line for the shirt, for the team. That is what people want to see from professional rugby players.

“People love the big hits and off-the-ball scraps, especially as they are always followed by players shaking hands after the game and going back to being mates. That is what rugby is. That is what makes rugby a great game and we need to start being unapologetic about that.”

Outcome v intent or recklessness

The two-time British and Irish Lions tourist believes that rugby’s authorities are “too anxious” to acknowledge, and it has led to the sport tying itself into knots with red and yellow cards for misjudgements due to the ongoing lawsuit involving former players.

While Lawes is sympathetic to those who have experienced neurological damage from rugby in the past, he believes that it is an entirely different game nowadays, and players are far better informed.

“It was pretty much a different sport,” he added. “They weren’t aware of the dangers. We know the dangers now. We know what the latest research says. The medical care for players has never been better. That means we can participate willingly. No one is saying we want players running around taking each other’s heads off. But people want to see a hard, fair game of rugby that is intensely physical and also legal.

“We can have it both ways by changing how we view genuine rugby incidents in a game. At the moment, we base too many refereeing decisions on outcome rather than intent or recklessness.”

Six Nations ditch decades-old rugby jersey tradition to ‘attract’ new fans

Gladiatorial aspect of rugby

Following the success of the first season of the Six Nations documentary Full Contact, Lawes hopes that the series makers will continue to push the physical aspects of the game.

“That series was made by people who had no rugby knowledge with the aim of attracting new people to the sport. They focused heavily on the gladiatorial aspect of rugby,” he added.

“They zoomed in on the blood. They added some Hollywood sound effects over tackles to make them sound even bigger. They identified rugby’s physicality as a big selling point for the sport — and it can be enjoyed by everyone.”

Lawes also reserved a word for the broadcasters who “bash rugby” and believes that the sport needs more positive voices.

“We also have a lot of pundits on television who like to bash rugby,” he wrote.

“We need broadcasters to have really good rugby intelligence and to engage fans who are viewing games from the sofa, instead of overlooking key moments or dismissing a fierce scrum battle as a boring way of getting the ball out to the backs.”