Comment: Allan Massie laments lack of safe, low tackling

The other night I watched a documentary about the 1981 Springbok tour of New Zealand. Disrupted by the anti-apartheid demonstrators and activists, it was the last international rugby for South Africa until Nelson Mandela was released from prison and the apartheid regime dismantled. The tour divided opinion in New Zealand sharply, and opposition was so fierce and at times violent that it’s extraordinary that the three Tests were actually played. The players on both sides showed a remarkable ability to concentrate on their game, especially in the last match when a light aeroplane flew over…