Referees, players past and present, and pundits have reacted with sarcasm and disbelief at calls from experts to ban tackling and scrums in British schools rugby up to the age of 18 because of safety concerns.
Professors Allyson Pollock and Graham Kirkwood from the Institute of Health at Newcastle University write in a leading medical journal that most injuries in youth rugby occur due to the collision of elements in the game.
They believe that removing collision from schools rugby is likely to "reduce and mitigate the risk of injury" in pupils.
Referee Nigel Owens, who took charge of the 2015 Rugby World Cup final, was blunt in his response. Owens wonders what will happen next, banning walking to school.
Former England and Gloucester centre, James Simpson-Daniel fears the game will be limited to touch rugby up to the age of 17.
Simpson-Daniel, who was forced to retire prematurely aged 32 through injury three years ago, also adopted a similar sarcastic response in his next tweet.
The British Medical Journal article went on to say that children who wanted to play contract rugby could continue to do so at clubs outside school, but stressed that schools should not be able to enforce contact rugby.
Professor Pollock wrote: "We call on the chief medical officers to act on the evidence and advise the UK government to put the interests of the child before those of corporate professional rugby unions and remove harmful contact from the school game."
Maggie Alphonsi is another former player who is against the proposal, saying the "benefits far outweigh the perceived risks". It was an argument backed up by this tweet from an account which tries to boost the grass-roots game.
The journal argues that history of concussion is associated with the "lowering of a person's life chances" across a number of measures including low educational achievement and premature death.
Former England captain, Will Carling, however, has offered an alternative to banning tackling.
The method has been adopted in New Zealand and could help reduce harmful contact.