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'I saw that Theo Brophy-Clews had retired... I got a second opinion from a very respected neurosurgeon in Manchester'

By Chris Jones
Jono Ross playing Northampton, the game in which he was badly concussed /PA

Sale Sharks captain Jono Ross flies into Manchester today at the end of a pandemic disrupted trip to South Africa confident he can prove his concussion problems will not stop him leading the club’s Gallagher Premiership title bid.

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Ross was given permission in April to see his parents in South Africa for the first time in two years, introducing them to his four-month-old daughter. The combative back-row forward had suffered the third concussion of this season against London Irish on March 21 having also sustained similar knocks against Northampton and Toulon and a period out of the game was a specialists’ advice.

Ross gave RugbyPass an insight into his concussions just 24 hours after he learnt that Theo Brophy-Clews, of London Irish, had been forced to retire due to concussion problems. Speaking from the Serbian capital of Belgrade, Ross gave an update on his health as, together wife his wife and daughter, he prepared to complete a flight schedule and quarantine period dictated by COVID-19 travel restrictions.

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Ross said: “I got concussed in the first game of the season against Northampton and against Toulon followed by another one in the match with Irish and went to see the specialist a few times and he suggested I needed some time out from the game even though my tests were pretty good. I saw that Theo Brophy-Clews had retired and that is very sad and I got a second opinion from a very respected neurosurgeon in Manchester and after that discussion I was very reassured.

“I am pretty confident that I will be back playing before the end of the season and I am sure there will be some tests to be done.

“With that number of concussions I had in that period of time it was wise to spend some time away from the game and not having seen my parents for two years, Alex (Sanderson, director of rugby) and the club very kindly said that as I wasn’t going to be back until towards the end of the season then why didn’t I go home to South Africa.

“What happened is that we tested to go back and my wife was positive and that was the first hiccup and we had to isolate for 10 days and then retested and were all negative. I got to spend time with my family who got to meet our daughter and it was special times. At the end of our trip to South Africa we went for a holiday in the Maldives.”

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Jono Ross
Press Association

It is at this point of their trip that Ross and his family had their travel plans significantly disrupted as the Maldives was moved from the Amber list by the UK Government onto the Red list which meant anyone coming back from the popular holiday destination would need to spend 10-days in a designated hotel. That would have impacted on Ross’s ability to stick to the training plan given to him by the Sale Sharks fitness team to ensure he would be able to rejoin the squad in preparation for matches.

Ross explained: “We wanted to spend 10 days in the Maldives and having been there for a couple of days we learnt during dinner one evening that they had been added to the Red list. That was stressful and so we left he Maldives and flew to Serbia and have spent 11 days in Belgrade. Trying to find flights has been a challenge but we fully understand that we took a risk to spend time with family and we are looking forward to getting back home to Manchester again.

Ross Sale
(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
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“It’s been drawn out having left the UK on 20 April and we have now been out of South Africa longer than we were in the country and have been very respectful of all the rules which we have followed.”

With Sale having been unable to complete their bid for a play-off place last season after COVID-19 forced matches to be cancelled, Ross admits there is lingering frustration that the squad wants to erase and reach the semi-finals matches in this campaign. “Yes, there is massive frustration following last season but we have shown throughout this season in our determination that we are in a better position in the final couple of games. We don’t want a COVID cancellation to ruin our season again. Some of the results recently have been exceptional under Alex and the team has grown on from our time with Steve Diamond and now we need to get some more wins.”

Ross’s return to action is coinciding with the recovery of Manu Tuilagi from his Achilles surgery and the No8 added: “Manu is one of the best players in the World and joins a lot of depth in our backline. I have trained pretty hard throughout and hopefully that will stand me in good stead.”

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Jon 6 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 9 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.

36 Go to comments
A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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