Injuries do rugby union much more harm than negative headlines | The Breakdown

Size, physique and the number of games should concern the sport’s rulers, not the conduct of high-profile playersIn a summer which saw the premature retirements of the Lions captain Sam Warburton and the Newcastle prop Scott Wilson through injury, and a few months after the Northampton and Australia centre Rob Horne suffered paralysis in his right arm playing against Leicester, an article in a political magazine lamented rugby union’s deterioration as a spectacle and as an example to youngsters when it came to the conduct of players.“It has become a nasty, dangerous, gladiatorial sport, played…