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I played rugby for a few years in high school (not exactly stellar credentials but bear with me). The first thing we were all taught to do was tackle. The tech

I played rugby for a few years in high school (not exactly stellar credentials but bear with me). The first thing we were all taught to do was tackle. The technique was to wrap your arms around the opponents legs, particularly below the knee as that would guarantee their stoppage. This was a simple but very effective technique. We never tried to go for the head, or lower our heads and hit them. I never played football so I can't say if this technique would work there but it's at least one reason no one on my team suffered a concussion in two seasons.

jessriedel 9y ago
The single biggest difference between rugby and American football tackles is that (typically) in rugby you put your head behind the the runner while in American football you put it in front, i.e., across the body of the runner. The latter technique is only really possible without frequent facial injury when you're wearing a helmet and is used because it is more reliable (harder for the runner to run through). It also leads to more head, and especially head-to-head, contact.