World Rugby’s Lindsay Starling has backed the use of new smart mouthguards, following Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend's reservations about the technology used in them.

World Rugby have introduced smart mouthguard technology as part of the Head Injury Assessment (HIA), they announced on Monday, which will make its debut in the WXV women's competition in October.

The mouthguards are supplied by Prevent, with World Rugby announcing an investment of £1.7m in October to support implementation after supporting several recent studies.

Super Rugby announced temporary changes to its "smart" mouthguard technology Friday, with players no longer required to immediately leave the field for a concussion test if an alert is triggered.

World Rugby is the first sports governing body to use smart mouthguards for in-game assessments of concussions. The NFL is watching how it unfolds.

Innovative mouth guards introduced to help monitor impact involving players' heads have come in for some heavy criticism after making their debut in the Super Rugby Pacific.

Brain injury researcher and campaigner Dr Willie Stewart also weighed in on the issue saying World Rugby’s use of language around mouth guards reducing concussion is “specifically, not true in ...

World Rugby are now recommending that players at all levels of the game wear mouth-guards while playing as evidence from ice hockey suggests they can reduce the risk of concussion by 20pc.

Super Rugby announced temporary changes to its "smart" mouthguard technology Friday, with players no longer required to immediately leave the field for a concussion test if an alert is triggered.

World Rugby have introduced smart mouthguard technology as part of the Head Injury Assessment (HIA), they announced on Monday, which will make it's debut in the WXV women's competition in October.