FRANCE V WALES CHAOS RAISES FEARS ABOUT PLAYER SAFETY
COLUMNIST
Before the most surreal denouement of a game in Six Nations history unfolded one of our fellow fans made a sharp exit from the Stade de France.
At 74 minutes he thought Wales had it in the bag and didn’t want to miss the Ireland v England game. So to avoid the crush he nipped out, got on the train and got back to the bar by Gare du Nord to settle down in front of the big screen... and discovered the Wales match was still on.
He was as gobsmacked as the rest of us still back in the stadium.
Penned in corner section J, where most Welsh supporters get seated for a somewhat limited view of the action, we peered towards the other end of the field. A mix of tension, frustration and bewilderment was palpable as we watched the endless curtain call of scrum fives that would extend this bizarre sporting theatre to almost 100 minutes.
The alleged bite on George North’s bicep punctuated the scrum siege. We were too far away to gauge at this stage what might be going on with controversial prop exchanges but smelled a whiff of dodgy tactics as pungent as a ripe Camembert when this incident went to the TMO.
Wayne Barnes asked to see the tape. If there was visual evidence beyond the clear chomp mark on George’s arm, this was red card and game-over time for France – and a win for Wales.
Video footage proved “inconclusive”. Of course it did. Cynical moi? Perchance. But in an age when sport is covered with more technological artistry than a Hollywood blockbuster it is very odd the host broadcaster could only provide a single angle of the moment George said his arm was bitten. A queried French try would surely have got every view available.
Insult was added to this injury when French coach Guy Noves nibbled his own wrist in the post-match press conference to suggest the bite could have been self-inflicted.
My dentist, who has examined the close-up photograph and identified the “lower arch plus gum shield upper arch” tooth marks on George’s arm, has already offered his services in sourcing an expert in dental forensics to prove otherwise.
But, long-term, the even more damaging controversy to emerge from the chaotic climax of France v Wales is the alleged abuse of head injury protocols. If this really happened on Saturday, it goes beyond a sense of injustice over the result. After all, Wales did not create enough attacking chances earlier on in the game to be beyond reach in the final minutes. So the whole blame for their deeply disappointing fifth-place finish in the 2017 Six Nations cannot be attached to this debacle.
But the tournament and rugby itself will remain tainted if France are indeed guilty of exploiting head injury protocols with such disturbing cynicism.
The 81st-minute exchange of Les Blues prop Uini Atonio for superior scrummager Rabah Slimani, who had been subbed for tactical reasons earlier in the game, deserves further investigation because there are just too many dubious circumstances surrounding the incident.
Atonio himself only complained of a “sore back” when asked by the ref if he was injured. Slimani was warming up before the call for a head injury assessment had been made. According to Rob Howley, a member of France’s coaching team broke the rules by running outside the designated technical area to speak to Les Blues’ team doctor. Said medic then went on to the pitch to tell Wayne Barnes that Atonio needed an HIA. The referee had no choice but to comply.
Howley is not a man given to stream-of-consciousness outbursts or provocative Eddie Jones-style soundbites. He chooses every word with precision and would not have suggested France had used the HIA process to get their best scrummager back on the pitch at such a crucial moment from simple sour grapes. He underlined the bigger picture.
“The process leading up to the change of the French tight-head, the way that occurred, we love our game too much to have those decisions. It’s hugely disappointing. I just question the integrity of the decision that was made. There is evidence to suggest the integrity of the game has been brought into disrepute,” said Wales’ interim head coach.
The difficulty of proving this claim is any cheating relating to head injury protocols is potentially untouchable.
However manipulated the process might have appeared on Saturday, no match official would overrule medical advice.
Concussion management in rugby has been the greatest advancement of player welfare of recent times.
As a trustee of the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust, which supports players with life-changing injuries, I’ve seen the devastating long-term impact of head injury at first hand. It is arguably the biggest health and safety issue in sport and as such demands the most sensitive and respectful treatment and attention.
Rugby prides itself on its ethics – the values of the professional game still embodied in that humorous old amateur adage: “A game for thugs played by gentlemen.”
If France did exploit head injury protocols to gain a potentially match-winning advantage then the thugs have taken over.
And, to use a metaphor as crass as this alleged method of cheating, the game’s authorities need to knock this on the head as soon as possible.