The Welsh Rugby Union is "facing mounting criticism over allowing George North to play on after receiving two significant blows to the head in Wales’ 21-16 defeat to England," according to Daniel Schofield of the London TELEGRAPH. World Rugby said it would be “seeking to establish from the WRU whether all concussion management protocols were appropriately followed,” in an incident that has highlighted "many of the flaws" in the current concussion system. North "had already undergone a mandatory concussion assessment, which he passed, after receiving an accidental boot to the head from Dave Attwood when he clashed heads with Richard Hibbard, his teammate, midway through the second half." Video replays "clearly demonstrated that he immediately lost consciousness." For Barry O’Driscoll, who resigned from his position as chief medical advisor at the Int'l Rugby Board over its attitude to concussion, "it is another example of medical concerns being overridden." O’Driscoll said, “I am afraid it is very difficult to come to any other conclusion that it is not the state of the players’ brain but the state of the game that is determining a lot of these cases. If George North had been in a boxing ring then the fight would have been stopped. He was out cold" (TELEGRAPH, 2/7).
