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Johnny Sexton to miss second Test against the All Blacks

By Ian Cameron
Jonathan Sexton of Ireland receives treatment during the Steinlager Series match between the New Zealand and Ireland at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Veteran Ireland flyhalf Johnny Sexton will now miss the second Test against the All Blacks as per new World Rugby protocols introduced this month.

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Andy Farrell’s men faded fast in the first half after a promising start and found themselves 28-5 behind at the break and having lost captain Sexton to a head knock.

The Irish contributed to their own downfall as a poor pass from Garry Ringrose allowed the rapid Sevu Reece to zoom clear from inside his own 22 and dive over.

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Influential fly-half Sexton then departed to be replaced by Joey Carbery having slipped into Sam Cane in the build-up.

Sexton will now miss the second Test as World Rugby require a minimum stand down period of 12 days after failing a HIA.

Changes implemented globally from 1 July mean any player eligible to return to play on the 7th day after injury would only do so with the approval of an independent concussion consultant. This means Sexton will miss the second Test at the Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin next weekend.

Players, including those with a history of concussion or who are removed from a match with obvious concussion symptoms, will sit out from play for a minimum of 12 days, likely missing their next competitive match according to the new Graduated Return to Play (GRTP) protocols.

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Related

Protocols that define a player with a history of concussion include a concussion diagnosis in the previous three months, three concussions diagnosed in the previous 12 months, a player who has been diagnosed with five concussions in their career, and a player who has taken longer than 21 days to recover from a previous concussion.

Sexton falls into this category.

“World Rugby’s chief medical officer Eanna Falvey added: “It is going to be a new mindset for coaches and players.

“Our approach means it is now overwhelmingly likely a player diagnosed with a concussion won’t play in their team’s next match.”

additional reporting PA

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Flankly 3 hours ago
The AI advantage: How the next two Rugby World Cups will be won

If rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.

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