All Black's concussion nightmare confounded consultants and nearly ended his Harlequins career
All Black centre Francis Saili has finally been cleared of the concussion symptoms that threatened to force him out of the game, ending his Harlequins career before it had begun.
Saili arrived at Quins from Munster as a key signing last season but was badly concussed in his second appearance for the club after misjudging a tackle on England lock Joe Launchbury in the 41-10 European Champions Cup defeat by Wasps on October 22. In total, he managed just 127 minutes on the pitch in the famous multi-coloured jersey with Quins struggling so badly they parted company with director of rugby John Kingston, who saw his three main recruits all struck down by serious injury.
Besides Saili’s concussion, outside half Demetri Catrakilis needed surgery after a freak throat injury left him fearing for his life and then Namibia No8 Renaldo Bothma broke his arm three times during the season.
While Catralikis and Bothma attracted most of the media attention with their injury woes, Saili’s nightmare went largely unnoticed as the club worked hard to try to find a solution to the concussion problems that would not clear up. They sent Saili to a brain consultant in Birmingham and the centre became increasingly frustrated with the negative verdicts having followed the specialist’s advice in a bid to free himself of the symptoms.
With concussion forcing an increasing number of high profile players to quit the game, there were real concerns that Saili would join that list and he admitted: “I was confident when I went for the second and third appointments with the specialist and each time I thought I was going to get the go ahead to start playing again.
“Each time I did the tests, waited and then went into see him expecting the all clear and both times it was a disappointing outcome.
“I had to then ask myself “ what else can I do to get myself right” and it was all about getting the brain settled. Concussion is not like having a knee injury or something like that which people can see. Concussion is a serious injury and you cannot push the boundaries to get back earlier like other injuries. The great news is that I have now been cleared and that’s really fantastic.
“It was all quite draining and the most frustrating thing was that I couldn’t control the situation. I was rehabbing with all the guys who were playing every week and all I could do was try and stay positive around the group.
“It was tough with myself, Demetri and Renaldo all being out for long periods last season and we have a little joke amongst ourselves and we give each other stick. I ask Renaldo “how many games are you going to play next season?” and we all want to be there for the full season to help the club and that is why we are all working so hard in pre-season training.
“I think all three of us can help the group next season and we are all enjoying working with Paul Gustard, the new head of rugby. We want to show through our actions what we can offer Quins and we all want to bounce back from the disappointment of last season because we have a really great squad. This is going to be a big season for us.”
At the moment, Saili, whose brother Peter is a back row forward at Pau, is not able to take part in contact work as he is completing a recovery programme following a dislocated shoulder he suffered in one of the five games he did manage to play last season against London Irish.
It only confirmed that it was a season to forget but he confident of making headlines for the right reasons in the Gallagher Premiership. “I am a week away from being able to start contact” he added. “We want to win the championship like every other team and Paul (Gustard) is setting the example because he was in the gym when I got there at 6.30am!”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments