New HIA procedures

SANZAAR Statement

Following extensive consultation with National Union Chief Medical Officers and World Rugby, SANZAAR will be implementing a mandatory reaction test as a part of the HIA process in Super Rugby 2018.

SANZAAR has agreed to take part in the study because of our ongoing commitment to player welfare and concussion management. Please see the attached document for more details regarding the study.

In terms of process for the HIA, the minimum time of 10 minutes will still apply for the HIA during the 2018 Super Rugby competition, but because of the extra reaction testing that has been added to the HIA 1 an extra 3 minutes has been allocated in case the testing of the player goes on for longer than 10 minutes.

This therefore means the following scenarios can occur:

a) A player completes the HIA 1 in 8 minutes. He will have to remain off the field, as per the Law for the full 10 minutes before returning to play. As soon as the 10 minutes is up, they can return to play.

b) If a player requires 10 min and 50 seconds to complete the HIA 1 test, he can return to play as soon as they have completed the test.

c) If a player takes longer than 13 minutes to complete the HIA 1 test, he may not return to play.

For scenario a) and b) the player’s HIA 1 test has to indicate that a concussion is not suspected for that player in order for that player to return to play.

The doctors clinical decision may also override an HIA 1 in scenarios a) and b) which indicate that a concussion is not suspected.