Rugby officials were \u201cwrong\u201d not to take Wales star Tomas Francis off the field for a head injury assessment after he was struck in last Sunday\u2019s Six Nations match against Ireland, according to ex-Dragons player Adam Hughes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flanker Peter O\u2019Mahoney was sent-off after he forearmed the Welsh prop in the face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hughes, who retired because of head injuries sustained in his playing career, said there was \u201ctoo much focus\u201d on seeking a red card for Ireland\u2019s Peter O\u2019Mahoney and not enough on taking Tomas Francis off the pitch for further checks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI gave him [Francis] a bit of a telling off for that on Monday but it\u2019s not him I should be telling off,” said Hughes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt should be the physios, referees and independents that are on the side-lines that have just watched that incident in slow motion more than 10 times to check if that\u2019s a red card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut nobody has actually thought \u2018hang on a minute, this boy\u2019s just been smashed in the head, should we check him as well?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the same match Johnny Sexton and Johnny Williams were both taken off the field with head knocks meaning laws on head injury assessments, which require a player to be taken off immediately and replaced, were in place during the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Player safety is now under close scrutiny following the announcements that former international players Alix Popham and Steve Thompson had been diagnosed with early onset dementia as a result of concussions in their playing careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hughes, who also had spells at Bristol and Exeter, is now part of a group of players taking legal action against the Welsh Rugby Union, RFU and World Rugby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking on the wider issue of head injuries in the game, he said that he\u2019d like to see \u201ccompulsory scrum caps brought in to grassroots rugby,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not saying as ex-players that we want to see tackling taken out of school rugby or for there to be less contact in the sport,'” said Hughes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe just want to see players at that level getting the proper medical attention and time away from the game they need if they do have a knock to the head.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Welsh Rugby Union has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rugby officials were \u201cwrong\u201d not to take Wales star Tomas Francis off the field for a head injury assessment after he was struck in last Sunday\u2019s Six Nations match against Ireland, according to ex-Dragons player Adam Hughes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":27447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[52,54,56,213],"coauthors":[574],"class_list":["post-27444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-ireland","tag-rugby","tag-six-nations","tag-wales-rugby"],"yoast_head":"\n