‘George North incident can make rugby safer’
The game’s governing body World Rugby has said Wales wing North should not have remained on the field after a clash of heads with team-mate Richard Hibbard during last Friday’s RBS 6 Nations clash against England.
But World Rugby added that it accepts the Welsh Rugby Union’s explanation surrounding the incident.
North appeared to suffer a momentary loss of consciousness after the 61st-minute collision with Hibbard.
WRU national medical manager Prav Mathema subsequently admitted that had the second incident been seen by medics, then North would have been immediately taken off and replaced.
North left the field in the first-half after receiving an accidental boot to the head from England lock Dave Attwood, but he was able to continue after treatment.
World Rugby, meanwhile, has also announced that it will be “immediately investigating, evaluating and promoting the implementation” of new measures.
These are the practicality of television match official technology being expanded to identify head injuries as they happen on the field, all elite competitions being requested to provide pitchside video for medical staff, and all elite tournaments encouraged to adopt the Rugby World Cup 2015 player welfare standards.
“It’s unfortunate, that second incident,” said Roberts, speaking at the Wales squad training base yesterday.
“I think all the protocols have been followed by the union medical staff. It was unfortunate they didn’t see it happen, the second one (incident).
“A lot has been made of it, and rightly so. Concussion is a huge part of the game at the moment, and hopefully moving forward, the protocols that we put in place – from our side, there will be video replays now for the medical staff at home and away matches – are going to make the game safer for the players involved.
“Safety of the players is paramount.”
Wales assistant coach Robin McBryde will demand a reaction to the dismal defeat against England when they face up to Scotland.
“It was hardly a performance to be proud of, and in fairness to the players, there is nobody more disappointed than they are,” Wales assistant coach McBryde said.
“We are going up to a Scottish team that is rejuvenated on the back of some good results and performances, and I am sure they are keen to get us up there as well and give us a welcome at Murrayfield.
“The players are hungry, with quite a bit of honesty... that is when you find out about people, when they are put in a tight corner and see how they react.”
Meanwhile England have confirmed that they have retained the same matchday 23 that faced Wales for Saturday’s clash with Italy after Geoff Parling was ruled out of contention with a knee problem.
Head coach Stuart Lancaster had hinted that if Parling was able to prove his fitness for the Twickenham showdown, he would have been included among the replacements at the expense of Nick Easter or Tom Croft.
However, the Leicester lock suffered a setback in his recovery from a knee ligament strain during training on Monday and will now hope to prove his fitness for Ireland on March 1.
England’s plan was to select Parling on the bench as specialist second row cover, but Rowntree is happy to face Italy with the flexibility of having an additional back row in reserve.
“If we are going same again, I would be happy with that because it means we are picking guys on the bench who can cover many positions,” Rowntree said.
“There are a lot of top club teams at the moment that are picking back rows in the second row. I like that luxury. France have done it for a long time.”
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