ONE of the major advantages of the Principality Stadium's shocking location for the press box, low down at pitch level so that plenty of play on the other side of the field has to be watched on the big screens, is its proximity to the hits.

The thuds of Test rugby never cease to be staggering, even for those of us who have watched the sport week in, week out for decades.

The opening exchanges of two of Wales Tests last season, against the Springboks and then England, were especially astounding as the giant lumps looked to assert their authority.

In the Six Nations clash, Ross Moriarty claimed the kick-off and charged straight into the chasers in white and then his opposite number, Billy Vunipola, did likewise from the clearance.

International rugby players are a different breed.

They have the mental ability to cope with the stress and nerves that is making hands shake in the stands and the physical attributes to deal with collisions that would force the rest of us to have a month in bed.

South Wales Argus:

You feel inferior walking around the Vale Resort next to Wales' current superhumans, yet frequently feel superior when a former Test player is presented with the obstacle of some stairs.

The aches, pains and loss of cartilage comes with the territory and few, if any, would swap the post-career grumbles for the experiences on the field.

But a gammy leg is one thing, a head injury truly can be life-changing.

World Rugby cannot afford to just do nothing; they have to trial ways of making the sport safer even if it prompts those predictable calls of the game 'going soft'.

Rugby may not have the shoeings at the bottom of a ruck of seasons gone past but it certainly isn't soft, it certainly doesn't look tame compared to the classic footage from the 20th century.

The brutality just comes in a different form to rugby in the past and World Rugby have a duty to shift with the times, to trial and tinker with the sport.

Last Thursday they announced a number of experiments with the headline one being a closed trial that will reduce the tackle height to the waist, the rationale being that it may reduce the risk of head injuries to both the player being tackled and the one doing the tackling.

Cue outrage in some quarters.

It's a trial, that's it. If it doesn't work then it will be binned along with the six-point try from the Principality Premiership in 2015/16.

Two days after that announcement came the flashpoint of Scott Barrett's red card in the Bledisloe Cup, a dismissal at the end of the first half that aided the excellent Australia in their shock win against New Zealand.

The lock hitting Michael Hooper high with a no-arms tackle was a moment that divided opinion – but the correct call by referee Jerome Garces.

World Rugby haven't exactly just sneaked this out there, they have produced a decision-making framework for high tackles that all teams should be aware of.

South Wales Argus:

There is no asterisk on that framework that suggests an official shouldn't issue red if they think it will ruin the spectacle.

There is no arrow pointing to yellow if it's in the opening quarter – people have paid more that £50 for a ticket for this, don't you know – and red if it's past the hour.

Players know that if they make contact with the head/neck then they are going to be sent off, it's up to them to adapt to that.

Easier said than done in the intensity of a Test, granted, but it has to be done.

At Twickenham on Sunday, England boss Eddie Jones pleaded for the governing body to step in.

"I urge World Rugby – although I don't think they do anything at great pace do they? – to get some consistency in that area because otherwise we will have games being destroyed by an inconsistent official making a decision on a law that's not clear," he said.

Not clear? Clarity has been provided and I'd suggest a coach is not doing their job if their players don't know where they stand.

I have sympathy with those that point to the number of such offences that go unpunished in every game, such is the speed of play, but just because a directive is hard to enforce doesn't make it wrong.

Had Garces just turned a blind eye to Barrett's indiscretion then we would really have a problem in rugby.

But the French official did his job, just as the gang of referees heading for Japan have to do theirs.

Twenty teams have put four years of work in to build up to the World Cup and don't want all their toil to come down to a decision, but that's the nature of sport and it isn't the referee's fault.

Eight years ago it was Wales that suffered the anguish when Sam Warburton was dismissed for a tip-tackle on France's Vincent Clerc in the semi-final.

Plenty felt robbed by referee Alain Rolland and the Western Mail devoted its front page to the issue under the banner 'Is this how you feel?'.

"Can't stop wishing there had been a different referee. Can't stop thinking he should have issued a yellow card, not a red one. Can't stop questioning why he took such a short time to make such a big call. Can't stop feeling his decision showed little empathy for the players, the occasion and the game," it said.

I couldn't stop myself from feeling exasperation at Rolland being targeted for making the right call, one that Warburton would later back as being correct.

Players should travel to Japan knowing the risks of going high and should be no grumbling if games turn into 15 versus 14.

World Rugby is rightly protecting brains, referees are enforcing the laws and it's up to everyone else to adapt.