Alan Quinlan Blasts Sale Rugby Boss Over Concussion Comments

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Sale outhalf, Dan Mugford suffered an injury in a key period of their game against Gloucester last week and was replaced by scrumhalf Mike Phillips, a incident that went on to ultimately lose them the game.

This led to Steve Diamond, their director of rugby, to publicly question the sport’s Head Injury Assessment (HIA) regulations.

“All you need to have is a slap on the head and they have you off the field for 13 minutes now and I don’t know where we are going with it,” Diamond said.

“We lost Mugford in the second half and we’ve got a nine playing at 10 so that confused the issue a little bit.”

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Alan Quinlan discussed the incident and Diamond’s comments in his Independent column this morning and he was far from happy.

I want them to step back a little and think of stories like Benjamin Robinson’s, a young kid from Ulster, who died after suffering three separate head knocks in a schoolboy game in 2011.

He was 14.

I’ve spoken to his father about what happened and how his death could so easily have been prevented and often I think of where his son could be now, heading for university, possibly getting his first job.

Which is why there should be an onus on coaches at all levels in all sports to adhere to HIA protocols. They may not eliminate concussions but they can help protect the welfare of the player.

And that’s why Diamond’s comments annoyed me so much.

He lost a match.

But Peter Robinson lost a son.

And there’s a big difference between the two.

Do you agree with Alan Quinlan? We certainly do. You can read the article in full here, it’s a fantastic piece and well worth a read.

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