Saints in the dock as North is sidelined
joint RFU-Premiership investigation into the affair, defended themselves by claiming their medical staff did not have access to the damning TV pictures that appeared to show North unconscious.
TV professionals told Express Sport last night that this would be unusual.
The club said in a statement: “The Saints’ medical team has access to video footage to be used to assist the pitch-side assessment of injuries. It is important to note this footage is not always the full range of replay angles available to the TV-viewing audience at home.
“World Rugby protocol dictated, given the evidence available to the medical team, the use of a Head Injury Assessment.
“George was fully assessed by the doctor away from the pitch using the established protocols and processes and passed fit to return to play.
“As with all such injuries, if evidence suggesting a loss of consciousness had been available at the time of assessment, George would not have been allowed to return to the field of play.
“George remains well. Nevertheless, Northampton Saints continues to place player welfare as its number one priority and is referring George to an independent expert as part of the club’s ongoing assessment process and George will be stood down from play until this process is complete.”
A concussion management review group chaired by Dr Julian Morris met last night to assess the incident and Northampton’s handling of it.
For North, 24, there were alarming echoes of the 2015 Six Nations game against England, when he suffered a head injury that was not picked up, and played on. The Wales wing missed five months of rugby at the end of that season to recuperate after a series of head injuries – including in a club match against Wasps in March that year.
SALE have confirmed the arrival of Kiwi wing Denny Solomona, who controversially walked out on Castleford, and may play him at Saracens on Saturday.