Juan Cruz Mallía: Return to pitch casts further doubt on HIA process
This story is written by Progressive Rugby
Yet again a player - Juan Cruz Mallía - demonstrated clear concussion symptoms but returned to the field. Why does rugby keep getting it so wrong?
In Toulouse, just 8 minutes had passed in their Champions Cup QF with the Sharks, when Toulouse winger Juan Cruz Mallía demonstrated clear category 1 concussion symptoms (necessitating immediate and permanent removal) after clashing heads with opposite man Makazole Mapimpi.
Mallía’s condition (he appeared to lose consciousness briefly and then lay motionless on the pitch) led to former French hooker Benjamin Kayser on comms to say: “That’s bad. I’m not sure you’re going to see Mallía on the pitch again. I genuinely actually hope we don’t.”
Under the process Mallía should not have even undergone a HIA and should now be stood down for 12 days minimum, but instead he did, passed it and returned to play the full match, we say, at risk.
He went on to score two tries and suffer another heavy blow in scoring one of them.
We maintain in this instance the process failed and wait with interest to see if Mallía participates in Toulouse’s next fixture with Lyon.
It also casts doubt again on the effectiveness of the 12 minute HIA process where players who have demonstrated clear signs of brain injury are going on to pass the test.
We are pleased to say that 24 hours later in La Rochelle a far better scenario unfolded.
After Will Skelton was seen to be staggering badly after a Saracens clear out, the La Rochelle medical team were exceptionally quick to act and ref Andrew Brace was quick to stop the game as soon as he became aware.
It’s incidents where players are clearly concussed but return to the field following a HIA – a la Cowan-Dickie, Francis, Loughman, Dow, Kirsten etc – that have the most damaging impact on the game.
“That’s bad. I’m not sure you’re going to see Mallía on the pitch again. I genuinely actually hope we don’t.”