HIA: Head Injury Assessment

On the weekend I watched the Final of Super Rugby Pacific 2023. The match between the Chiefs and the Crusaders.

Ben O'Keefe, the Referee for the match did a reasonable job. Missed some things, but that's part of the deal. It happens.

However, 10 or so minutes into the match, Chiefs Centre Anton Lienert-Brown tackled Dallas Mcleod from the Crusaders.

Lienert-Brown rushed Mcleod in a poor tackle that resulted in a head clash. After a Video review Anton Lienert-Brown was Yellow Carded and advised that the tackle would be reviewed by the Video Referee to see if it warranted upgrading to a Red Card.

Here is my problem:

Everyone who watched this match - either live in the Stadium or on TV saw a head clash. Yet no one suggested that Mcleod or Lienert-Brown should go for an HIA. In fact, with the NZ commentary team saying that McLeod didn't look well, it was some 4-7 minutes before McLeod was finally taken from the field for an HIA. And failed it. Lienert-Brown - sat on the side of the field for 10 minutes. And then returned to play - with no assessment.

This is not an isolated incident. It happens all the time.

WHY?

After the match the citing commission Cited Leinert-Brown and he will face the judiciary in the next couple of days.

Concussions are a serious thing and it's great that Rugby and other sports are finally protecting players from themselves and (sometimes) their Coaches. "He will be alright" is not acceptable anymore.

But it seems like it has become common practice for any tackle that is reviewed by the Video Referee that the HIA protocols are forgotten about.

I agree Ex, if a player is carded and being reviewed for head contact (ie not just high tackle Yellow) then I would support mandatory 5(?) minute HIA for the player being impacted.
I would even support if a player can't return from HIA in that 5(?) minutes (even if can return in a longer timeframe) then automatic upgrade Yellow to Red.
It seems quite a few current players clearly need to be punished into realising they cannot hit the opposition players head!
The sad reality is professional contact sport is a decade away from the potential of being a dinosaur and if strong actions aren't taken now the legal fraternity will have a field day on the carcass...

I was equally perplexed and unhappy about this incident. Should've definitely been a red card and both players should've been immediately HIA'd.

I also think if there is shown to be negligent high contact (warranting a yellow or red card), then the offending player should not be able to return to the field until their 10 or 20 minute period is finished (as per card colour), or the player they have impacted is able to return to the field. So in the case of ALB, he's be out of the game the same as McLeod and in the case of Swinton v Strachan, Swinton would be unable to play rugby of any kind until Strachan had returned to playing club rugby.

So potential for ending your career with these impacts similar to the potential of ending the career of the person you're impacting. I think that would change behaviours pretty quickly

I think I've made my views on head contact pretty clear, I think it's different in super rugby than other competitions.

I've struggled to find another likely reason beyond pressure from the unions to soften world rugby's protocols.

If you saw Marley Pearce get red carded in the u20s and compared it to alb who got a yellow not upgraded, you'll get an idea of the difference.

Without a clear idea of why this difference exists, it's hard to suggest solutions, but impacts will be pretty predictable. Lots of Aussies and Kiwis getting cards in world cups and acting bewildered because it's ok in super rugby.

Firstly it's not easy to get every interpretation standardised. That probably would only be possible through some worldwide sighting commission. Impractical. The only solution possible, it seems to me, is to continue to punish offenders and to lessen the pursuance of mitigating factors during deliberation of live foul play decisions - force players to correct their techniques, including ball carriers. You can turn and use your hip but not drop your shoulder or raise your elbow. I mentioned the legal imperatives ruling bodies would face more than a decade ago and copped some blow-back here. I haven't reconsidered that, and have only become more convinced from a player welfare point of view. I likely wont be around to see it, but I fear we wont have a game that looks anything like the one we have now in 20 years or less if continued strong action falters and will be in danger of not having enough juniors coming through to sustain it.
I'm tired of the dinosaurs in TV commentary with their "A YC for that? It's an accident and not even a penalty!'' bullshit. Any doubters only need to see the tragic outcomes for a couple of giants of the game like Karl Hayman or Steve Thompson - who can't remember winning the RWC only 20 years ago. Both have dementia in their early 40's. There are high profile men from RL in the same situation - champion players like Steve Mortimer and Mario Fenech (the original "Falcon"). There's likely many many more who have not come out publicly. This is not just a sport issue - it's a moral imperative IMO.