Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams’ delayed concussion symptoms are giving Chiefs coach Dave Rennie headaches of his own.
Rennie said he will wait until Friday, to give his star centre a shot at playing against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
The All Black superstar suffered a head-clash with Stormers prop Vincent Koch last weekend in Cape Town, forcing him to leave the field for a concussion test.
Williams returned to the playing field to complete most of the game, but has been suffering from headaches and showing symptoms of concussion.
For the Chiefs coach, Rennie, there is now a nervous wait to see if Williams can complete the mandatory protocols – in order to be declared fit to face the Sharks in this Super Rugby Round 6 crunch clash.
Should he be cleared, it will set up an intriguing battle against Springbok Frans Steyn.
“Sonny has got to go through protocols regarding the concussion testing, but he is better today,” Rennie told the media.
“He is still a chance to play, but we will not take a risk – if he is no good we will save him for next week.”
Rennie confirmed that Williams passed the sideline concussion test in Cape Town and that it was not unusual for him to be displaying symptoms a day or 2 after the collision.
“He did pass the off-field concussion test with flying colours, and that is obviously why he went back out there,” Rennie continued.
“But we see this all the time – Liam got a knock a couple weeks back and if there is a report of a concussion during a game they have to go through the tests.
“Sometimes it is not for another day before you start reporting symptoms.
“So we are going through that process and probably won’t know for sure if Sonny will play until Friday.”
Should Williams be declared fit an interesting battle could take place between Francois Steyn in the Sharks midfield and the Chiefs man.
Many feel that Steyn needs an opportunity to prove his value to the national setup and his backline coach at the Sharks, Sean Everitt, feels that a battle against Williams could provide that.
“It is always going to be a nice opportunity for him to play against a guy like Sonny Bill Williams,” Everitt said.
“But, I do not think that it is going to make or break whether Frans plays in the World Cup, or not.
“Frans has come here, he has lost weight, he is looking trim and slim and he is really on top of his game.
“He is bringing a lot of energy to the team and that is what matters most to us.”
Back in the Chiefs’ camp, Rennie also confirmed that last week’s outside centre and Samoan Sevens international, Tim Nanai-Williams, had returned home with a fractured finger.
“Tim won’t feature this weekend, he has gone home,” Rennie said.
“He had a fractured finger, and it was quite a bad fracture, he is going to be out for maybe 3 weeks. Tim has been replaced by Marty McKenzie.”
Commenting on the disruptions a potential new midfield would cause, the Chiefs coach was not too concerned as he highlighted the depth they posses.
“It is not a massive difference if we have to reshuffle our midfield,” Rennie continued.
“We had Charlie Ngatai, who played the 1st 3 weeks and then he got injured.
“Tom Marshall has played a lot at No 12 for us in the past.
“Andrew Horrell is there as well as Seta Tamanivalu (2014 NPC Player of the Year) who is a big man and offers a similar skill set to Sonny.
“So we have some good options still.”
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