DESPITE TELEVISION FOOTAGE appearing to show Morgan Parra being knocked unconscious — and the referee stating the same — during Clermont’s European Rugby Champions Cup win over Northampton at the weekend, an independent review has found that the scrum half was “correctly permitted to return to the field of play after an initial Head Injury Assessment (HIA) revealed no loss of consciousness.”
The review also found that ”while an audible comment from match referee, Ben Whitehouse, at the time of the event may have led to some confusion, Alligin Performance commended the official as he clearly stopped the match out of concern for the player’s welfare.”
Parra passed the first stage of the HIA after leaving the field of play in the 27th minute of the match at Stade Marcel-Michelin following this incident.
Parra brought back on despite referee stating he was unconscious.
— RugbyLAD (@RugbyLAD7) October 21, 2017
The HIA fails once again. pic.twitter.com/AvrFWXoiEK
After the incident, Whitehouse was heard saying Parra was unconscious.
However, any head injury event that occurs during matches in European competition is subject to an independent review process managed by the UK-based company, Alligin Performance.
The incident involving the 28-year-old was referred by Alligin Performance to Dr Mike Rossiter, a consultant in sport and exercise medicine, who concluded that the clinical decision-making process was correct in allowing Parra to return to the field of play.
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