1
World Rugby make startling claim regarding on-field concussion surveillance
By Online Editors
World Rugby have claimed that less than six per cent of concussed players are now incorrectly left on the field of play compared to 56 per cent in 2012.
The sharp reduction they are claiming to have happened in the past seven years was part of the information circulated in Paris on the third and final day of a player welfare symposium.
With the World Cup now just six months away, the governing body has insisted it is committed to making a further reduction in the number of concussed players avoiding detection on the field of play.
Four new components - designed to enhance uniformed data collection and advance World Rugby’s evidence-based approach to injury-management - are to be added to a package called Premium Standards for Elite Competitions.
Those new are mandatory uniformed injury surveillance programmes compliant with the World Rugby consensus statement, mandatory presence of a World Rugby standard match day doctor in addition to team medics at every match, mandatory video review technology functionality to assist with the identification and management of head injuries, and mandatory presence of a World Rugby representative on the HIA review process.
(Continue reading below...)
These standards are applicable to World Rugby sanctioned events including Rugby World Cup, Women’s Rugby World Cup, Six Nations, Rugby Championship, Super Rugby, Champions Cup and elite domestic club rugby competitions.
Dr Martin Raftery, the outgoing World Rugby chief medical officer, said: "With a focus on injury prevention, we have now enhanced the package of mandatory standards ahead of Rugby World Cup 2019 to ensure that all competitions are capturing like-for-like injury data, have dedicated match day doctors and video review for medical purposes. We have the full support of unions and competitions and would like to thank them for their commitment.”
Chairman Bill Beaumont added: "Rugby World Cup 2015 raised the bar with the introduction of detailed mandatory standards that included independent concussion consultants, video review to identify potential head injuries, independent match day doctors and accreditation of medics.
“These standards were subsequently rolled-out across the game and are underpinning enhanced concussion prevention, identification, and management, resulting in concussion incidence dropping.”
Alongside increases in concussion awareness, education and protocol compliance, World Rugby is claiming that its HIA process has also played a central role in the reduction of concussion rates in elite rugby.
The latest data from the RFU Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project determined a 14.3 per cent reduction in concussion rates in elite English rugby - the first drop since the tool was introduced to help protect players. They say it reflects a global trend in this priority player welfare area.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Wallaroos captain reflects on Black Ferns’ success with sevens stars
3
Springboks flyhalf's latest injury worry
4
Initial Immanuel Feyi-Waboso injury update does not sound promising
5
Latest Comments
The boy needs to bulk up if wants to play 10 or 11 to handle those hits, otherwise he could always make a brilliant reserve for the wings if he stays away from the stretcher.
Go to commentsIn another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.
First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.
They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.
Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.
Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.
That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup
Go to comments