In an open letter to government ministers, chief medical officers and children's commissioners, a group including doctors, public health professionals, academics and sports scholars urged the British government to force schools to make their rugby games non-contact. 'High risk of serious injury': Schoolboy players at Waratah Oval in Gymea, Sydney. Credit:Brock Perks "The majority of all injuries occur during contact or collision, such as the tackle and the scrum," the letter said. "These injuries, which include fractures, ligamentous tears, dislocated shoulders, spinal injuries and head injuries can have short-term, lifelong and life-ending consequences for children." The Australian Rugby Union did not immediately respond. However, Phelps said the benefits of playing sport should not be dismissed because of the potential for physical harm.

"I think there shouldn't be a knee-jerk reaction to what's being proposed in the UK," Phelps said. 'Concussion common': primary school children playing rugby in Sydney. Credit:Brock Perks "There is so much to be gained by being involved in particularly team sports as a young person that I wouldn't like to think that parents would remove their children from something that is so beneficial for the risk of a possible injury. "They're basically saying it should be touch football, but my daughter plays touch and I've seen broken arms and ankles in her team. I don't stop her playing because of it. "I do think that given this issue has been raised, it's something that rugby officials here could look at and maybe have an objective analysis of what's happening here and see if anything needs to change. But I really think the risk you face is in young people taking no risks at all.

"If you play sport, every so often you'll get a sports injury. You just have to accept that there will be risk of injury if you are involved. And I think, if you're going to have a sport, at some point you have to say that everybody's got to be playing the actual sport." Phelps said an obvious problem with a contact ban is that youngsters wouldn't learn how to tackle properly or fall safely. Therefore, they would not be able to transition to senior rugby after school. The letter in Britain said concussion was a common rugby injury and children took longer to recover than adults. However, a study funded by the Australian Rugby Union and World Rugby, conducted by the University of NSW, found that injuries among juniors were much more rare than among adults. The Rugby Union Injury Surveillance Study analysed the game at various levels between 2004 and 2008 and discovered that under 18's were less than half as likely to suffer injury than senior suburban players. Injury incidents decreased among younger groups.