Schools rugby has again come under scrutiny following the latest incident of serious injury. David Azhar, a fifth-year pupil at Barrhead High in East Renfrewshire, suffered a broken neck in a collapsed scrum while playing as a prop for the Whitecraigs Under-18 side in a match against West of Scotland at West Lodge.

The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) has pledged to help the family in any way possible and the injury has touched all quarters of the game.

The SRU’s chatroom on its official website contains messages of sympathy for the family from clubs all over Scotland, including two of the players who featured in the game, Chris Love and Scott MacKenzie, who have both asked for the rules to be looked at.

Colin Thompson, age-grade rugby development manager at the SRU, points out that the latest injury is the first of a serious nature in youth rugby for many years. While he believes it is a “freak accident”, he is not playing down its severity.

The SRU will conduct a full inquiry into the incident as safety is its top priority and Mr Thompson does not want rugby to be seen as a dangerous sport.

“Statistics show that the number of youngsters playing the game is up and in the last two years we have more affiliated schools,” Mr Thompson points out.

“While not wishing to take away from the severity of this injury - and our thoughts and support are with the boy’s family at this time - it is the first of this nature we have had for many years.

“I do not want to comment on the individual incident and how it came about as I was not there.

“The SRU is concerned about any serious injury that occurs and we will look at this further down the line.

“There are a number of issues that need to be considered with changing any laws. Such action can bring other problems, and any changes would need to be piloted and studied closely.”

The injury occurred in a game where both teams had experienced Under-18 players, there was a doctor and a physiotherapist present, and the referee was also experienced.

The rules on scrums have been changed in recent years in an attempt to cut serious injuries. Previously, players were permitted to “charge” into each other when engaging but now referees line the scrum up first.

As a further precaution at Under-19 level, players must crouch and then touch before a scrum begins, and they are halted if players wheel through 45 degrees in an attempt to stop scrums collapsing.

Iain Brown, president of the Scottish Schools Rugby Union and master in charge of rugby at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh, believes the sport is safe for schoolboys.

“This incident appears to have been an unfortunate accident and all of our thoughts are with the family at this time,” he says.

“The safety aspect of the sport has been looked at closely and the depowered scrum has been in the game for a number of years. Now, if a scrum moves more than a metre-and-a-half, it is halted and it prevents the steamroller effect.

“If you go right down to Under-13 level, then there are even more safety elements in place and young players are trained in the skills of scrummaging before they get into a full competitive game.

“The SRU will no doubt look at this latest incident to see if anything can be done to make the game safer. But any rule change would need to come through the International Rugby Board, although obviously the SRU will have an input.

“All the statistics in the past have supported the measures taken so far and it’s just an unfortunate nature of contact sport that injuries occur. This could have happened in any sport.”

The SRU is always looking at ways of cutting injury risks and recently compiled a study on high-impact tackling which was sent to the international board.

There have also been concerns about concussion and head injuries and whether protective headgear would cut down related injuries, but there are now suggestions that headguards will perhaps only reduce cuts and abrasions and not cut down on concussion.

The SRU is also looking at lifting at line-outs - and whether that can lead to injuries in young players - as it takes an all-encompassing look at the sport.

“Since the late 1980s, young players have not been brought up on the full game and have been taught the skills first before they adjust to full-contact, and this has helped the game,” says Mr Thompson.

“However, we do look at the injury risks involved as an on-going process in the same way the Scottish Football Association or Scottish Basketball Association would, for example.”

He adds: “It’s a hard time for all of us involved in age-grade rugby. It is not deemed to be a dangerous sport and we would not encourage young players to take it up if we were not confident about its safety. But injuries will occur in any contact sport and, statistically, the more players you have involved, then the more injuries you will also have.

“You have to look at the bigger picture. I believe it is better for children to play sport when you look at all the health benefits than not to take up any sport at all.

“Whitecraigs has a good policy and reaches out into the schools and local community. It was through this that Barrhead High started playing rugby again.

“It would be a great pity if hundreds of children decided not to take part in sport because of this one incident.”