AS IF THE brute physical force that was being exerted by both sides of Ireland’s 26 – 23 win over Australia on Saturday needed to be underlined, four Irish players were forced to the sideline with concussion fears.
Gordon D’Arcy, Conor Murray, Rob Kearney were all brought to the sideline for head injury assessments, forcing Joe Schmidt to finish the game with a makeshift backline.
The worst of the blows on first viewing was the clash of heads between Kearney and Sexton when the pair moved to tackle Australian winger Adam Ashley-Cooper.
The collision between the Leinster men laid them out on the turf, and for a time, Ireland were defending the Wallaby onslaught with 13 men.
Before the end of the set, both Sexton and Kearney (the top two players below) managed to make their way back into the defensive line before they were replaced at the next stoppage.
“I would have liked to have stayed on until the end,” Sexton said yesterday before flying back to Paris.
“It’s always nicer when you’re on the pitch when the final whistle goes. You feel part of it, I suppose. Even at the end of the Six Nations I came off against France, it’s a stranger feeling when you see the final whistle from watching the TV. It’s not quite the same.”
Though that concussion at the hands (or forearm rather) of Mathieu Bastareaud is still fresh in his memory as he looks ahead to a week of further cognitive tests, Sexton insists he’s not concerned that it may becoming a regular occurrence.
“It’s not something I’m worried about personally. It’s not like I’m getting knocked out or anything like that or having memory loss.
“I’ve had one bad concussion in my life, maybe six or seven years ago. Obviously the one against France looked bad, but sometimes you can just get caught on the chin. I probably felt okay the next day, that night. So it’s not something I’m worried about personally.”
Speaking as an Aer Lingus ambassador, Sexton adds that he may have joined Murray in returning to the field of play were it not for the mandatory time spent undergoing the pitch-side assessment. Unlike one of his Racing Metro teammates, Sexton is not a qualified authority on the subject, but his experience of the injury and how he is treated is well worth taking heed of.
“You can get a bang on the head and be perfect a minute later (or) you can struggle for a couple of days. There are various degrees,” says the out-half, later adding:
“If you have a bit of memory loss, nausea, headaches then it is more severe. If you are perfect 24 hours later then it is not as severe. They are the markers you have to go through. You have to tick the boxes … three or four days after a suspected concussion you have to make sure you’re good to go.”
Above all, the 29-year-old was keen to praise the ever-improving knowledge surrounding the subject of concussion and the guidelines handed down through the team doctors.
“Players always want to stay on, it’s the doctors who make the decision. They probably look after us more now than they did previously in terms of the knowledge of concussion [that they have now] if you get any knock to the head. We’re more educated now and when you do get a knock it’s ‘get them off, get them tested and if they’re okay get them back on.’
“They’re looking after players more and the public is becoming more aware as well and it’s being written about more. People are more aware of it and it leads to more interest on the subject. As players we’re concerned about the effects it might have if you have lots of bad ones but I’m okay.”
And whether he’s okay enough to play in the Top 14 next weekend will depend on the conclusions of his doctor in Paris this afternoon.
Aer Lingus’ summer schedule for 2015 includes the introduction of a new direct service from Dublin to Washington starting 1st May, a daily service from Dublin to San Francisco and a third daily service from Dublin to New York. Visit AerLingus.com.
First published at 06.20
