Johnny Sexton’s anger prompts doctor to row back on claims of ‘30 concussions’
Ireland's Johnny Sexton receives medical attention. Picture: INPHO/Tommy Dickson
Johnny Sexton spoke as a husband and father of three rather than as Ireland captain when he said he would not take any risks with his health by playing against France on Sunday.
The fly-half is currently progressing through the mandatory return-to-play protocols having sustained a blow to the head during last Sunday’s Guinness Six Nations opener in Wales. He was due to undertake the penultimate test of the six-stage process yesterday afternoon and if that stage was passed, he will today take the final cognitive exercise that will allow him to face France at Aviva Stadium.
Yet the second-half incident that saw the fly-half’s head make contact with Justin Tipuric’s knee prompted an interview this week on French radio station RMC with Jean-Francois Chermann, the neurologist who treated Sexton when he was a Racing Metro player and stood the player down for 12 weeks in 2014 following a sequence of head injuries. In that interview, Chermann claimed Sexton had experienced up to 30 concussions in his career.
Sexton got his right of reply yesterday and he came out fighting against what he said were inaccurate reports, while the Ireland captain’s expressions of anger, sadness, and shock brought something of a backtrack from the neurologist who made them.
As punctual as the TGV from Paris to Bordeaux, French whispers about Sexton’s medical history have resurfaced this week and just as predictably, Sexton brought his trademark on-field belligerence into the Ireland press conference room as he spoke of inaccuracies in the claims made by Chermann, at one point saying: “I thought there was a patient-doctor confidentiality. I’m pretty sure that exists in the world and I just can’t get over the fact that someone thought it was appropriate to say things that weren’t even accurate. That’s the most hurtful thing.”
Sexton also outlined the measures in place for his and other players’ protection following head injuries that should offer reassurances to their nearest and dearest who may be concerned they are being rushed back to the field of play.
“Well I do all the tests that are in place and if I don’t get through them, I won’t play,” Sexton said. “But if I do get through them, then I will play. It will all depend on how I do and how I feel. That gives me confidence and that will give the people close to me confidence that I’m okay.
“That’s how it’s always been. I’ve never felt any pressure to play after a knock on the head. It was a blow at the weekend, and a good blow and the fact that the docs were out so quick is a sign of how good they are. They don’t let you get up too quickly and all those things that can sometimes make it look even worse as you’re lying there but they’re telling you not to move.
“So look, it is what it is and we’ll see how I go over the next 48 hours.”
Like the rest of the rugby community, Sexton has been made aware of the current struggles of past players from a previous generation who have been diagnosed with early-onset dementia as a result of repeated head injuries and are bringing legal action against World Rugby and their respective unions for a failure to protect them from the risks caused by concussions.
The 35-year-old, who if passed fit will earn his 97th Ireland cap this weekend, contrasted their plight with the current generation of players and the level of care they receive.
“It’s very hard for me because I don’t want to go against those guys. The times, the way we’re looked after now, is very different. Some of the stories that have come out of guys playing on Saturday and getting knocked on the head then playing on Tuesday and getting a knock on the head, coming in on Thursday and getting knocked on the head, playing Saturday, that doesn’t happen anymore.
“There’s always a little bit of contact in training but it’s rarely full contact. We’re already reducing all those times. Back in the day, after the knock I got on Saturday, maybe I’d have been thrown out there today for example and then you’re susceptible to something else.
“The way that we’re looked after is at the top of sport really, the way rugby is. I feel for the guys, I really do, the guys that are struggling now.
“I feel good. The reports, I don’t want to go back to it, but they were so inaccurate it just makes me angry.”
Chermann and RMC yesterday issued a clarification in which the neurologist said: “As regards Sexton we cannot say for certain that he has had 30 concussions. I should never have cited this figure without any explanation and I regret the wrong I have done to the player who was my patient and who I respect more than anyone.
“In my neurological experience of treating more than 1,500 athletes who have suffered concussion, the pivotal elements ruling out a return to action are: the fact of having suffered concussions close together in terms of time, that a previous concussion has taken time to be shaken off (several weeks), and the fact that the player is under 20 years old because there exists a serious risk of suffering an aftershock.
“To be clear if Sexton has not suffered from a concussion for a year, that he is asymptomatic after 48 hours, that the tests carried out are good and that the return-to-play protocol has been carried out properly, then there is nothing to stop him from playing against France.”
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