Turn clock back to 1977 and safeguard players
We keep being told that player welfare is paramount, and alongside that we know that former players have developed early-onset dementia and other illnesses, and are considering taking legal action against the game’s authorities. This is potentially an existential issue for rugby, and it reared its head again when Wayne Pivac selected Tomas Francis for Friday’s game against France.
Francis took a knock to the head against England two weeks ago, and the images of him struggling to get up, and then having to lean against the post as he tried to regain his balance, weren’t pretty – like many people I was staggered when he passed his HIA and was allowed to come back onto the field.
Former players who believe that too many head knocks contributed to their problems, spoke out against Francis’ return to action against England, and his subsequent selection against France – this is one of those issues where everybody has an expert whose opinion they can call on.
It used to be very simple: if a player was concussed they were stood down for three weeks, something that was decidmedics as far back as 1977. That, however, led to players hiding concussions because they wanted to keep playing. It was a blunt instrument, and back in 2012, the IRB commissioned a major study on head injuries, and that ultimately led to the current iteration of the rules, and the return-to-play protocol, which potentially lets a player come back in as little as six days. Dr Barry O’Driscoll, a former medical advisor to World Rugby said: “The HIA and return-to-play protocols have no scientific standing. The six-day return to play came in because the game went professional and there was pressure to get a player back for the next game. It was based on nothing else.”
There are plenty of experts who believe we currently have the best protocol available at the present time, and plenty of others who think it’s too lax. The only logical conclusion to draw from that is we don’t really know enough yet about the affects of repeated concussions. When Pivac announced Francis’ selection he mounted a strong defence of the decision, referring to Wales’ ‘worldclass’ medical team. Apart from the fact that worlded class is a hugely over-used phrase, almost to the point where it has become a cliché, the fact remains that other doctors took a different view, notably Professor John Fairclough who has previously worked with the WRU, who said it would be a grave mistake to select Francis.
If different parties can call upon their own medical experts to argue one way or the other, then we’re in a dangerous situation, with the players stuck in the middle. It’s time to turn the clock back to 1977. All players who suffer a concussion, and that has to be determined by the on-field with the final decision taken by independent doctors, should be stood down from training and playing for a full three weeks, doing a return-toplay protocol in the final week. If player welfare is truly paramount then that’s the only way to go.
Last weekend had no Six Nations action, but my goodness the Premiership delivered in spades, with six enthralling games. Towards the end of the Exeter v Sale match, Chiefs had a disallowed try, resulting in a most peculiar comment from Ugo Monye. The referee missed an offside in the run-up to the try, and the TMO pointed it out to him. Monye said it was the right decision, ‘but it’s the part of the game I hate, it’s so forensic’, notwithstanding the fact he and other BT Sport pundits often call out incidents that are subsequently identified by the TMO!
At least Ugo realised he was contradicting himself, and he needs to think about what Sale and their fans would feel if a try had been wrongfully awarded, or if Exeter had wrongly got a bonus point that cost another club, say Harlequins, a play-off spot or Champions Cup rugby. Getting the right result is what matters. If it takes a TMO intervention and another minute or two on the clock, so be it – that’s a price worth paying for the integrity of the game.