Concussed McKenzie set for 12-day stand-down
Star Chiefs playmaker Damian McKenzie will miss next Friday’s Super Rugby Pacific match against Moana Pasifika in Auckland, due to concussion.
The 47-test All Black, who is odds-on to be the starting No 10 in Scott Robertson’s first side to face England come July, picked up a head knock in Saturday night’s 56-7 thrashing of the Force in Hamilton, and Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan confirmed that he must now stand down from playing for 12 days, as per World Rugby regulations.
So, McKenzie failed his in-game head injury assessment (HIA), then? Well, here’s where things get interesting.
What McKenzie’s concussion incident − occurring in the 56th minute when Izack Rodda collided with him as he gave a pass for a Daniel Rona try − revealed was that he is opting against wearing one of the new smart mouthguards, which are built with bluetooth technology to transmit data to the sideline and were introduced as ‘mandatory’ at the start of the season.
Only, they aren’t really mandatory. What it means, though, is if players don’t wear them, they are not afforded the chance to undertake an HIA1 − the assessment conducted in the changing rooms mid-game.
Those players instead fall under the ‘recognise and remove’ protocol − the same used in community rugby − whereby if sideline medical officials identify they have sustained a head knock, they must be taken out of the game, and don’t have the opportunity to re-enter.
It’s unclear why McKenzie has opted not to wear the smart mouthguard.
McMillan said he wasn’t sure if his linchpin No 10 was wearing one of the smart mouthguards, and noted that his concussion on Saturday occurred around the time they were looking to substitute him anyway.
But the non-wearing of the smart mouthguard still comes with a potentially big impact on the whole team. Consider McKenzie takes a knock in the opening stages of a big game. He is straight away ruled out of the contest, regardless of if he would have passed an HIA on the spot.
All eyes will be on how the Chiefs fare without McKenzie next week. It’s a game they should win handsomely − just four weeks ago they racked up a franchise-record 68-12 win over Moana in Hamilton − but they have notably struggled when their talismanic first-five has not been on the park, outscored 70-47, including losing to the Crusaders on his first rest week.