George North may be rested for Wales’ Six Nations game against Scotland

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/feb/09/george-north-wales-six-nations-scotland

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Wales will decide , when they return to camp after a couple of days off, whether to consider George North for Sunday’s encounter with Scotland with their national medical manager admitting that he should have come off in the match against England.

North, the Northampton wing, has been under the concussion protocol since the end of Friday’s match and he needs to be symptom-free six days before Sunday to be available for selection.

Wales will announce their team later this week and given the furore that blew up when the wing remained on the field after being apparently knocked out momentarily 20 minutes from the end after a clash of heads with a team-mate, Richard Hibbard, they may deem it prudent to rest the 22-year-old even if he is given the all-clear by the medical team.

Related: George North’s ‘concussion issue’ highlights gap still to be closed

North, who missed Wales’s final autumn international 10 weeks ago because of concussion, was assessed in the dressing room for eight minutes in the first-half on Friday night after being accidentally kicked in the head by England’s Dave Attwood. He came back on but the second incident was not seen at the time by Wales’s medical team, who remained unaware until after the match that the player had taken another knock to the head.

Their national medical manager Prav Mathema said: “Regrettably, we didn’t get a chance to see the incident, and had I been given that opportunity, there is no doubt that he would have been removed from the field of play.”

World Rugby, the game’s governing body, launched an investigation into why North remained on the field after the clash of heads and found that Wales had not breached the protocols on concussion, which require that a player is taken off for assessment, because the medics were unaware of what had happened. The medical team did not have access to a live television feed and saw neither the clash of heads with Hibbard nor North seeming to lose consciousness before hitting the ground. It is understood that the Welsh Rugby Union has told World Rugby that the feed, a system which will be in place for all World Cup matches later this year, will be set up by the time of the next match at the Millennium Stadium next month.

Mathema said: “George, since the incident on Friday, has been symptom-free the whole time. Post-match he was symptom-free, today he has also been evaluated and he has shown no signs and symptoms of any concussion. And because of that he has actually started his return-to-play protocol already, and there has been no issue with the first stages of that. He has to go through that process for the rest of the week, having a step-by-step increase in his activity, and we will evaluate whether or not he will be fit for selection this weekend.”

The former England captain Lewis Moody, who suffered a number of concussions during his playing days, believes that North should not have been allowed to return to the pitch during the first-half and that procedures should be tightened up. He said: “If there is any doubt, the player should go off the pitch. In this instance he should never have been allowed to stay on as it was far too dangerous. He was very pale in the second-half and did not get into the game. The reason there are concussion protocols in place is to protect players and the decision of the Welsh medics to allow him to stay on really disappointed me.” World Rugby is looking at whether it is possible to link feeds for medical teams to those used by TV match officials, who have views from multiple angles and the means for instant replays. Cost is a factor and while it recommended two years ago that live feeds be supplied at all international matches along with an independent doctor, it is down to tournament organisers to make stipulations.

The Rugby Football Union operates the live feed system at Twickenham where there was concern during the 2012 autumn international series when the England outside-half Toby Flood carried on for a while after taking a big blow to the head that left him dazed.

The England head coach Stuart Lancaster feels there are lessons to be learned from what happened on Friday night. “It’s very difficult,” he said. “At the time, I didn’t see it, I don’t know if anyone did at the time. Clearly the ability to review footage at the specific moment and to identify if a concussion has taken place is crucial. My understanding is that we do have that provision in place at Twickenham.”