Scotland's leading spinal injuries expert has called for an urgent investigation into school rugby as it emerged that a 14-year-old boy had become the sixth youth in three years to suffer serious injury while playing.
Dr David Allan, director of the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit at Glasgow's Southern General, said authorities must clamp down on dangerous mismatches between adolescent teams before more teenagers are crippled.
Scotland has proportionally more injuries among young players than any other country in the Six Nations, Dr Allan said, apparently down to differences in training regimes and refereeing.
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A panel of orthopaedic practitioners will now work with the sport's governing body, the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU), to study ways to prevent serious accidents in future.
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Call for inquiry as rugby player, 14, is injured
Call for inquiry as rugby player, 14, is injured
