We can’t kick to touch when it comes to players’ head injuries

HERE’S a scenario that I imagine that Joe Schmidt was not asked to address during his interview yesterday for the job as new Irish rugby coach.

It goes like this: Ireland is in the last five minutes of the Six Nation’s game next March against France in Paris, the final game of the season. Ireland is within minutes of winning the Grand Slam but is facing a French onslaught which, if successful, will produce a match-winning try, costing Ireland its prize. Standing on the touchline beside Schmidt is his captain Brian O’Driscoll, who he had persuaded to play one more season. O’Driscoll had staggered off the pitch five minutes earlier after a bang to the head, unsure of where he was. But now he wants to go back on.

Would Schmidt decide that O’Driscoll’s presence would reinforce the defence to resist the French pressure? Or would he be at risk of making a mistake that could undermine it because of his condition? And would it be in his best interests to return, given his history of previous head injuries? Would Schmidt tell his captain, Ireland’s greatest ever rugby player, that he was not going to allow him onto the pitch for the sake of what might be his own long-term health and safety?