EDDIE JONES PROVED to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
The England coach’s decision to question Johnny Sexton’s health has been met with a strong defence by the Ireland out-half, around whom a discussion about concussion continues to swirl.
While Leinster out-half Sexton did not reply directly to Jones while speaking to TV3 yesterday, he suggested that the England boss was jumping on the “bandwagon” of uninformed commentary about his injury record.
Sexton stated that if he were to question the mental wellbeing of members of the media, as his own head injury history is questioned, he would be liable to be sued for slander.
The Leinster man undertook a 12-week break from rugby in 2014 after suffering four concussions within a year and feels his decision to do so now means widespread armchair diagnosis of further head injuries. Indeed, some particularly outspoken commentary has recently suggested that Sexton should consider retiring from the game.
Sexton was replaced after eight minutes of Leinster’s Champions Cup meeting with Wasps in January having clashed heads with Brendan Macken and did not return to the field.
Initially, Leinster indicated that the out-half had failed his Head Injury Assessment, but later clarified that Sexton had actually passed that HIA.
Sexton was then substituted in the closing stages of Ireland’s defeat to France two weekends ago, sparking fresh fears of head injury in some quarters, but head coach Joe Schmidt indicated that it was a case of “whiplash” that had forced Sexton off.
Jones’ unprompted comments yesterday about Sexton sparked the issue into life yet again.
“Sexton is an interesting one,” said Jones. “They’ve talked about him having a whiplash injury, which is not a great thing to talk about. I’m sure his mother and father would be worried about that. Hopefully, the lad’s alright on Saturday to play.”
Asked about Jones’ comments yesterday, Sexton indicated his ongoing frustration at how the media and wider rugby public are so swift to associate him with concussion.
“I don’t know what context it was in so I can’t comment too much on it,” Sexton told TV3.
“He’s probably just trying to jump on the bandwagon about head injuries. Look, that’s the hot topic at the moment and I’ve probably been branded with it a little bit because I’ve taken a break previously.
“I think that break was very precautionary, it was to prevent me having any problems in the future and thankfully that worked and I haven’t had any problems.
I stayed off against Wasps and I think that just created a story out of nothing really. I probably would have been better just going back onto the pitch. The way some of the media reacted, I think that it’s encouraging players now to try and play with those minor head knocks, which is exactly what the doctors are trying not to do.
“It can be pretty frustrating when people are diagnosing you that have absolutely no idea what’s going on behind the scenes or what condition you’re in. Look, it is very frustrating, especially when they’re talking about concussion, which is obviously a very serious issue.
“I used the analogy the other day: if I said it over and over again in the media that a member of the press or a member of the media had dementia or something along those lines, I’d be sued for slander.
“It can get very frustrating at times when you’re constantly being labelled with being concussed when you’re not. It’s not ideal, but there’s nothing I can do about it, so I’ve just got to get on with it.”
