'We don't go out to hurt others. It's part of the game'
Scotland scrum-half Ali Price admits rugby may never solve its concussion problem.
The topic of player safety has been thrust back into the spotlight following the announcement that Price’s international team-mate David Denton has been forced to retire on the advice of doctors.
The 42-time capped Scotland forward has not featured for club side Leicester or Gregor Townsend’s national team since suffering a serious head knock during an English Premiership clash with Northampton last October.
The trauma has left the 29-year-old with feeling pressure in his skull as well as visual disturbances, leading a London brain expert to warn Denton that he would be putting his long-term health at risk if he resumed his playing career.
Price has sympathy for Denton but hailed World Rugby for leading the way in its efforts to remove the dangers of concussion from the sport.
But with brutal collisions a fundamental part of the modern game, he admits the risk will never totally be removed.
“It’s always going to be an issue,” admitted Price in Nagasaki, where Townsend’s team are preparing for Sunday’s World Cup opener with Ireland.
“It’s a contact sport and sadly these things are going to happen.
“Guys can get their head caught on the wrong side and with boys running faster and being stronger, if you’re caught in an awkward position sometimes these flash knockouts happen.
“This had been building up inside of me for four to five months." @dentweezy retires at 29 https://t.co/i43o4tN8qg
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 16, 2019
“The thing with the brain is that everyone deals with it differently – and you’ve only got one of them don’t you?
“Some boys can be back in a week, feel OK and pass all the protocols. Others take a lot longer.
“But I think the steps rugby takes to protect the head is the best of any team sport in terms of removing players from the pitch to get tested and then the follow-up protocols.
“There is always that risk that injuries like this will happen but World Rugby are leading the way in trying to minimise how often it happens.
NEWS | Scotland back-row David Denton to retire from rugby on medical grounds.
All the best in the next chapter David #AsOnehttps://t.co/5v27QKhA4k
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) September 16, 2019
“It’s a shame for Dents and there is a few players who have had to call time on their careers with similar issues but you’re never going to stop it unless you declare the sport touch rugby from now on – but that’s never going to happen.
“Everyone loves the game as it is. None of us goes out there to get hurt. We don’t go out to hurt others. It’s part of the game.
“You just have to accept you might be unlucky. It can happen to anyone at any time.”
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments