A leading medical professional has said that there is a need to reform the rules of youth rugby in order to ensure the safety of junior players in the sport.

Michael Carter, a paediatric neurosurgeon at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children said that he sport currently misses several safeguards aimed at ensuring the wellbeing of the children. Dr Carter also urged the schools, clubs, medical facilities, and regulatory bodies to study the risk of junior rugby and take steps to ensure the safety of players.

Dr Carter wrote in the British Medical Journal that schoolchildren participating in the sport do not have the required skill to avoid injury. He pointed out that some teams have children of similar age but different physical stature. He said that a check with the neurosurgical department yielded around 20 children's rugby injuries over the previous decade that required neurosurgical consultation or intervention, including two deaths, four or five serious spinal fractures, and several depressed skull fractures with some linked to brain injury.

Dr Carter said, "Schools, coaches, and parents all contribute to a tribal, gladiatorial culture that encourages excessive aggression, suppresses injury reporting, and encourages players to carry on when injured."