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Lions concussion row: 'I don't how much more I can talk about it'

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Warren Gatland has again defended the decision to select Luke Cowan-Dickie on the Lions bench last Saturday just a week after the Exeter hooker was knocked out while playing for his club in the Gallagher Premiership final at Twickenham. 

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The decision to select Cowan-Dickie as the bench as back-up to Jamie George in the win over the Sigma Lions in Johannesburg generated a lot of online negativity. Kyran Bracken, the 2003 World Cup-winning scrum-half, led the way, tweeting: “I am absolutely disgusted that the powers that be allow this to happen. A stain on our great game.”

Progressive Rugby, the concussion awareness group formed following last winter’s revelations by the likes of Steve Thompson and Alix Popham surrounding dementia, also questioned the selection. “How on earth is Luke Cowan-Dickie on the Lions team sheet just five days after this? Cowan-Dickie will have to undergo stringent return to play protocols and will not be able to progress to full training until he passes series of tests.”

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Josh Adams’ inspirational Lions media briefing following his four tries versus the Sigma Lions

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Josh Adams’ inspirational Lions media briefing following his four tries versus the Sigma Lions

Gatland responded to this criticism during a pre-game TV interview on Saturday, insisting: “As far as I am concerned we have followed everything and the medical team have given him the all-clear. He is fit and good to go.” 

Cowan-Dickie went on to play eleven minutes off the bench, making nine metres off three carries and tackling twice, and he has now been chosen to start in Wednesday’s match versus the Sharks in Johannesburg. His selection, though, resulted in Gatland again being quizzed on the player’s recovery from concussion and how he was so quickly able to play for the Lions having been sparked out on the Twickenham turf seven days earlier. 

“There are strict protocols that our medical team follow that World Rugby have put in place that the players have to go through and with Luke, we went and got a world-renowned specialist in concussion to have a look at him and he cleared him as well, so he had gone through all the protocols. For people who don’t really know a lot about concussion, every player is affected differently. Sometimes a player can be knocked out and recover and be perfect in a very short time and another player might get a very slight knock and it can take them a while to recover from that. 

“In terms of cases, there is no similarity between what players go through. All I can say is that I 100 per cent follow the advice of the medical team and they go through their protocols and when a player is passed fit then he is considered for selection. 

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“I can tell you there is definitely no pressure from the rugby side and if he is not right then he wouldn’t have been selected. I don’t how much more I can talk about it. I don’t know. All I can say is people who are a lot more educated than me are making these decisions.”

Before Gatland’s latest rebuttal, Bracken had claimed in a follow-up tweet on Sunday: “The HIA is not fit for purpose. We wouldn’t allow a boxer or UFC fight seven days later from a knockout. I’m not criticising the doctors who passed him fit. I am criticising the system that allows this to happen.”

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Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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