Rugby Player Welfare Part 3: The IRB Responds to Its Critics

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: August 16, 2013

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Player welfare in the rugby community continues to be a hot topic these days.  

Our own Bleacher Report investigative series has outlined some of the major issues within the public debate and has dealt with some of the most important research—or lack there of—in regards to concussion management in rugby.

Click here for Part One of Bleacher Report's Player Welfare Series.

Click here for Part Two of Bleacher Report's Player Welfare Series.

As our ongoing reporting has discussed, the recent confirmation of the rugby's first-ever CTE diagnosis, has shaken the community further and has led to an even more vigorous discussion around what is being done to protect players at the elite level.

The International Rugby Board's (IRB) new pitch-side concussion assessments (PSCA) protocols have drawn their fair share of criticism from players and experts alike.

Scotland international Rory Lamont has criticized recent episodes, such as George Smith's injury during the 2013 Lions tour.



The implementation of the PSCA's themselves led directly to the resignation of the former IRB Chief Medical Officer Dr. Barry O'Driscoll, who has accused his former organization in an ESPN article of "trivializing concussion," saying "there is no scientific, medical or rugby basis for the safety of this process."

So, to get to the bottom of what the IRB are, in fact, doing around the issue of player welfare and concussions, Bleacher Report conducted an extensive one-on-one interview with the man that replaced Dr. O'Driscoll as Chief Medical Officer (CMO)—Dr. Martin Raftery.

Here now, without further comment, is that extended interview.

 

An Extended Interview With IRB CMO Dr. Martin Raftery: 


Bleacher Report: Thank you for joining us, Dr. Raftery.



Perhaps we could begin b...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Rugby Union

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