Premiership to review bizarre Quins-Newcastle incident after HIA controversy
The technology aimed at protecting Premiership players has been called into question again after a bizarre incident in Harlequins’ 28-14 win over Newcastle.
The Falcons’ new centre Sammy Arnold had been giving them a great focal point as a carrier and tackler, but with 13 minutes on the clock, he was ordered to go off the field for a head injury assessment (HIA) after an alert came from his instrumented mouthguard.
The vast majority of Premiership players have signed up to use the technology as part of a multi-million pound investment backed by the Rugby Football Union and World Rugby.
Arnold protested there had been no head impact and the officials should check the footage but the agreed procedure in the Premiership is the independent match doctor brooks no argument if an alert is sounded, it’s out of the referee’s hands, and so Arnold went for a 12-minute HIA that presumably was something of a nonsense.
As the referee Luke Pearce was heard explaining, “It’s a gumshield beep, there’s a certain number and as soon as it reaches over that, it’s an HIA.”
Newcastle boss Steve Newcastle boss Steve Diamond said afterwards that he believed Arnold had dropped the mouthguard and “hadn’t had time to put it back in”.
A review of the match video shows Arnold kicking the ball downfield just before he was called off – could that have been the source of the “beep”?
Pearce meanwhile was not best pleased at being left as the person attempting to communicate what was going on to flummoxed players, and never mind the nonplussed spectators.
“It may be a little teething problem,” said Diamond, no pun intended. “It didn’t alter the result, that’s what everyone’s agreed we’ve got to do, I think we’ll have a few hiccups with it, but it’s all for the safety of the game.”
The incident came a week after the widespread disquiet at Sale’s Tom Curry playing on after the England flanker suffered a “criteria-1” concussion incident that was missed by the independent doctor in real time, apparently due to a failure in technology, and should have seen Curry immediately removed from the match.
There will be a review of the incident, insofar as a Premiership spokesperson has confirmed that all HIA events are independently reviewed as standard after every match.
Among the outstanding questions are whether players need reminding to wear the mouthguard during all phases of play, and the capacity of the independent doctor to understand and deal with a situation in which the mouthguard is not in place.
World Rugby dictated from last autumn that elite players are required to wear the “smart” mouthguards if they wish to avail of the in-game HIA1 test, which allows them to return to the field if given the all-clear by medics. i understands only “a handful” of Premiership players have chosen not to.
Scotland’s head coach Gregor Townsend expressed surprise when two of his players were called off during the Six Nations this year but that was over the degree to which the “spike alert” had correctly identified the “head-acceleration event” it is designed to register.