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World Rugby has said that Australia scrum-half Nic White should have been permanently withdrawn during the Wallabies’ game with Ireland in Dublin.
White was brought back onto the field after he suffered two impacts to the head in quick succession during the game at Aviva Stadium on 19 November.
He went off, underwent a head injury assessment (HIA) and returned to the field and finished the game.
An independent review concluded the second impact had not been seen.
As a result, it was not reviewed by doctors while they were performing the HIA assessment but had they seen it, he would have been permanently withdrawn from the game.
Former Exeter player White, 32, was not in the Wallabies’ matchday squad for their 39-34 win over Wales at Principality Stadium on Saturday, having been stood down for 12 days.
World Rugby said in a statement that the independent review indicated that it was “defensible for the medical team to remove White for an HIA after the first incident but the second incident resulted in Criteria 1 signs according to the World Rugby HIA process, which should have resulted in White’s permanent removal from the field”.
“Both the independent matchday doctor and team doctor were in the process of reviewing video footage for the first incident when the second occurred.
“The second incident was not communicated to either doctor and therefore, in performing White’s HIA did not review any additional footage.
“Having been made aware of the second incident after the game, both doctors reviewed the footage and declared a Criteria 1 diagnosis.
“Discrepancies around process and communication, rather than interpretation of player signs, were therefore the key factors to affect this particular HIA process.”
