Johnston: Mid-term breaks essential to player welfare
WORCESTER high performance director Nick Johnston wants three mid-season breaks introduced to reduce the risk of player burnout and ensure concussion injuries do not kill the game.
As concussion awareness rises and return-to -play protocols become more stringent, Johnston reckons most Premiership clubs have six players under observation for head injuries each week – around 15 per cent of an average top-flight squad.
Worcester recently stood down their captain, GJ van Velze, pending his recovery from a concussion he suffered in his side’s season opener against Saracens, while England hopeful Ben Te’o also missed a number of matches after a head knock. Johnston told The Rugby
Paper: “In many cases the injuries we’re seeing are just bad luck, but the hangover effect of a heavy World Cup season is pretty unknown, and now we’re into a Lions year, which presents another danger.
“As clubs we do an awful lot for player welfare and sometimes I don’t think that gets recognised, but we can always do more.
“I’d like three breaks each season and there are some decent, positive steps around that which may protect our athletes better.
“It’s embryonic and nothing will come before 2018-19, but it’s about having breaks in the season and looking at international windows.
“The game needs matches to be viable, but rugby’s becoming more attritional and Premiership Rugby are taking this extremely seriously.
“Concussion has taken over as the most prevalent injury and it’s killing the game.
“You’re running with five or six players concussed most weeks, so they miss training and, added to that, we’re losing them for longer because of the protocols that are in place.
“The procedures are right but we’re in a game where increased playing costs potentially mean reduced size of squads, so if you put concussion into the equation you actually need extra numbers, which is an interesting conundrum.
“There are lots of teams with a lot of top players missing on a weekly basis and if you add in other serious injuries, plus the collateral damage from top end European tournaments and Test matches, it’s rapidly becoming a significant issue.
“We’re doing the right thing with concussion because you can’t take risks with people’s heads, but it has some pretty big implications on recruitment.”