RWC teams warned over head injuries

Rugby World Cup bosses are "unlikely" to disqualify teams for breaching concussion protocols but could impose fines should competitors flout head-injury safety guidelines.

Governing body World Rugby is intent on enforcing player welfare programmes specific to head injuries at the global tournament that begins next month in England.

Chief executive Brett Gosper has warned that World Rugby will scrutinise every head injury in a new crackdown.

Gosper said: "We have a series of sanctions at our disposal to act as a deterrent against non-compliance."

But he stopped short of vowing to throw out anyone breaking the rules.

"No, no: it's unlikely that would happen," Gosper told Press Association Sport when asked if teams could face disqualification.

"We think there will be compliance anyway.

"Everyone knows this is a very serious and important subject, and we're dealing with a medical area.

"We don't envisage misuse of the protocols that we have, but we think it's important to state that non-compliance will be sanctioned, because this is a very important area for us."

World Cup bosses announced on Tuesday that all but 200,000 of the 2.4million tickets have been sold, a month out from the tournament kick-off.

Wales wing George North is only just back in contention for a Test return after being sidelined since March with long-running concussion troubles.

England full-back Mike Brown had serious problems after being knocked out in the 47-17 RBS 6 Nations victory over Italy at Twickenham on February 14.

Rugby bosses are keen to avoid any further controversy when the World Cup kicks off with England hosting Fiji at Twickenham on Friday, September 18.

Gosper defended World Rugby's concussion programmes as among the most progressive and proactive in professional sport.

"I'm very proud of what all our team, medical staff and the unions within the game have done," said Gosper.

"It's been recognised by other world federations that we are taking the lead in this area and many of them are coming to us to use our protocols and use the knowledge we've gathered."

World Cup chiefs will employ Hawk-Eye video technology for television match official (TMO) reviews for the first time at this tournament.

The technology can also be used to identify and review head injuries.

Gosper hailed Hawk-Eye as able to offer "faster, more accurate" decisions during matches - then defended the TMO process for the watching supporters.

Fans attending matches can only hear discussion between the referee and TMO by purchasing Reflink headsets, priced at a minimum of £5.

Viewers watching on television can therefore sometimes gain a quicker understanding of technical calls from the officials than those in the stands who do not purchase Reflink equipment.

Gosper believes fans attending World Cup matches do not risk any "inferior" experience however.

"The idea is to make the experience in the stadium not inferior at all, on the contrary - you've got the atmosphere in the stadium, then you've got the elements available for the television viewer," said Gosper.

"And that's what we've worked to balance for the Rugby World Cup.

"There's a little bit of excitement in the expectation and wait for decisions around TMO calls but you can't push that too hard.

"In the early stages it did take longer than we would like, and the crowd had to get used to it.

"But with the combination of getting the process right and the crowd buying into the process, it's not an issue anymore."