During your career what was your personal experience with head injuries?
I was very lucky in my career I didn’t have many head injuries, of the two or three that I had I think I was treated pretty fairly. I was removed and given time to recuperate and I certainly don’t think anyone put me on the pitch or compromised me by putting me back on the pitch too early.
How has your awareness of concussion symptoms changed over the course of your career?
Well growing up it was something we tried to avoid talking about. But now being involved in teaching and coaching rather than playing, we can see it pretty quickly and we know pretty well how to treat it and get them safely off the pitch and back to play in due time.
Do you think current governing bodies are doing enough to protect players from head injuries?
I do think the governing bodies are doing enough to protect players. There is only so much you can do, it is a contact sport but like I said the awareness is out there and it’s all over the place it’s all but recognising removing and treating them properly and making sure no one’s getting that secondary concussion. The information is really readily available especially if you’re involved in the SRU and if you’ve done any coaching courses it’s one of the main parts of what they’re talking about.
Do you think the growing awareness of head injuries will change the way rugby is played in the future?
I think it’s already doing that so we’ve got new laws coming in, around the tackle height and severe punishments for crossing the line with those things. It is changing the way the game is played but like I said before, there’s only so much we can do. It is a contact sport. These things are going to happen . We just have to make sure that they are as safe as possible but we’re never going to remove that risk unfortunately.