Josh Hohneck
The New Zealand Rugby Union are reconsidering their concussion procedures after a Highlanders player remarkably returned to the field in a Super Rugby game last weekend.
Highlanders prop Josh Hohneck was knocked out in their victory over the Crusaders in Round 9 of Super Rugby last weekend.
The 29-year-old was on the receiving end of a substantial blow during his attempt to tackle Crusaders loose forward Jordan Taufua early in the 1st half of the match in Christchurch.
Hohneck fell to the ground, but after receiving medical attention he managed to regain his feet and stumbled off the park for a concussion test.
He reportedly flew through the test and was therefore allowed to return to the field less than 10 minutes later, at which time both Referee Glen Jackson, and Crusaders scrumhalf Andy Ellis questioned the decision.
NZRU’s General Manager Neil Sorenson is aware of how seriously head knocks need to be taken and states that they are delving deeper into this aspect of the game.
“There had been a number of incidents over the last few months in this latest Super Rugby competition that have been well reported,” Sorensen said.
“There’s Jerome Kaino, Sonny Bill Williams and young Josh Hohneck on the weekend.
“We’re absolutely looking into how that was managed, what we can learn from it and how we can do things better.”
Last week former Chiefs and one Test All Black Ben Afeaki announced his retirement from rugby after suffering a serve concussion at the start of last year.
The NZRU are also trialling a new system in which the official match doctor watches the game on a video screen so that he can monitor the knocks players suffer.
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