North: Wales cleared
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Wales wing George North should not have continued playing after his head injury in Friday's Six Nations opener, World Rugby said in a statement Tuesday.
The sport's governing body exonerated the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) of any blame in their handling of the player.
North took an accidental boot to the head from England lock Dave Attwood in the first half in Cardiff and he was temporarily replaced by Liam Williams while he underwent mandatory concussion assessment.
The 22-year-old subsequently returned to the field, but he then clashed heads with team-mate Richard Hibbard during the second half in what appeared to be a worse incident.
North did not go off a second time, playing on as England started their Six Nations season with a 21-16 victory.
According to World Rugby, North "should not have remained on the field of play" as the "World Rugby head injury protocol clearly states that a player should be immediately and permanently removed from the field of play where there are any visible symptoms or suspicion of a potential concussion".
But World Rugby said the WRU had followed correct protocol.
"World Rugby accepts the WRU's explanation that neither the team medical staff nor the independent doctor had sight of the incident and understands that the medics acted within the framework of information they had at the time and would have taken a different course of action had they had direct pitch-side visibility or access to the same broadcast footage seen by those watching on television."
World Rugby have used this instance as an opportunity to expand the protocol when it comes to head injuries.
"World Rugby will be immediately investigating, evaluating and promoting the implementation of the following measures:" their statement read.
"World Rugby will investigate the practicality of the television match official technology being expanded to identify head injuries as they happen on the field.
"All elite competitions will be requested to provide pitch-side video for medical staff.
"All elite tournaments will be encouraged to adopt the World Cup player welfare standards.
Wales will now have instant video replays available to their medical staff for the remainder of the Six Nations tournament to avoid a repeat of an incident
The Welsh medical officer, Prav Mathema, said the incident has made his medical team look at where its protocols need to improve.
"For the next four games of the Six Nations, we are certainly going to have instant video replay for both our home and away matches," he said.
"We've also had this discussion with World Rugby, and we are hopeful that our discussions will spark some form of global intervention as well with regards to this."
Wales resume their Six Nations campaign against Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday and North still hopes to be passed fit to feature.
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