A court case, and a coach’s answer
Steve Hansen wants coaches to attack concussion where it starts. The former All Blacks boss set out his position on the Rugby Unity podcast while the sport’s governing bodies defend a legal claim brought by more than 500 former union and league players.
The claimants argue that World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union failed to put safeguards in place to protect them from the consequences of repeated head impacts. Lawyers acting for the governing bodies recently asked the judge to strike out cases lacking required documents, arguing there had been “wholesale and widespread non-compliance” with the court order to disclose.
On Friday, Senior Master Cook ruled “with some hesitation” that the claims should proceed to trial, subject to conditions to be decided at a further hearing. The ruling acknowledged “exceptional circumstances” and a “particular element of public importance going beyond the individual claims”. The battle has now run six years.
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“There was a lack of understanding”
Hansen did not dispute that the game got it wrong.
“There was a lack of understanding. I don’t think it was anybody’s fault,” he said. “There was, at times, a lack of care when people were concussed. We didn’t know enough about it, through nobody’s fault, but because of that, there was a lack of care.”
He then pushed part of the responsibility back onto players. “No one used to report because he didn’t want to miss the next week,” Hansen said. “There are still players out there that I’ve dealt with who wouldn’t report a knock, and if you didn’t see it, then how do you deal with it?”
Anthony Watson made that point for him earlier this year, admitting he cheated his way through a Head Injury Assessment during the Lions’ second Test against New Zealand in 2017. His reasoning: “A Lions tour happens once every four years; you may not get another opportunity.”
The ambulance at the top of the cliff
Hansen’s proposed fix is technical rather than legal. “Let’s teach kids to be really good tacklers,” he said.
He described a player who arrived at Toyota convinced his career was over after a run of knockouts. Hansen sat him down with video. “That’s why you’re getting knocked out, mate. You got your head in the wrong spot. So it’s not your head that’s the problem; it’s your technique.” The player has not been knocked out since.
“The thing we’ve got to do in the game is get the ambulance to the top of the cliff,” Hansen said, rather than leave it at the bottom “where we’re dealing with this sort of thing in the court”.
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