With an NFL movie just out, and the public awareness of the topic at an all-time high any time a player goes down with a suspected head knock people are talking. Unfortunately to Johnny Sexton, any slight contact he gets now results in a lot of people talking about the punishment he goes through.
He's probably one of the most stubborn players in Irish Rugby, and he's not happy with people talking about his head. Eddie Jones is the latest to comment on Sexton's health, despite the fact that Sexton hasn't been concussed since 2014.
Jones expressed a belief that Sexton's parents would be worried about their son's history of head injuries and the whiplash he suffered in this Six Nations. Joe Schmidt refused to react to Jones' comments, and while Sexton himself wasn't overly pleased with them either saying Jones was just jumping on the bandwagon a bit, it was the bandwagon that got most of Sexton's ire. Referencing Leinster's Champions Cup game where the message about whether Sexton had passed a HIA or not got muddled in the media between what Leo Cullen said after the game and a few days later, via the Irish Examiner:
I stayed off against Wasps and that created a big story over nothing really. I’d have been better off coming back on to the pitch. The way the media reacted, it’s encouraging players to try and play on with those minor head knocks which is exactly what the doctors are trying not to do.
It can be pretty frustrating when people are diagnosing you that have absolutely no idea what’s going on behind the scenes, it’s very frustrating when they’re talking about concussion, which is a very serious issue.
If I said over and over again that a member of the press or media had dementia I’d be sued for slander, so it can be very frustrating at times when you’re being labelled with being concussed when you’re not.
It's intriguing to hear that Sexton thinks that the constant reaction to head knocks encourages players to play through these injuries which is (presumably) the opposite of what was intended.
Makes you think.
[Irish Examiner]
See Also: Eddie Jones Trolls Johnny Sexton's Injury Woes And Joe Schmidt Is Having None Of It
Picture credit: Ramsey Cardy / SPORTSFILE
