Northampton Saints have announced that winger George North has been stood down until he undergoes an independent assessment process on a head injury.
The Wales international suffered the latest in a line of head injuries during Saturday's match against Leicester Tigers, despite passing the head injury assessment and being allowed to continue.
However, the Saints have revealed that their medical team did not have access to full television footage of the incident at the time and were confident that the 24-year-old had not lost consciousness.
"As at every Aviva Premiership match, the Saints' medical team has access to video footage to be used to assist the pitchside assessment of injuries. It is important to note this video footage is not always the full range of replay angles available to the TV viewing audience at home," read a statement on Northampton's official website.
"The medical team can only base their decisions on the evidence available to them at the time of assessment. World Rugby protocol dictated, given the evidence available to the medical team, the use of a Head Injury Assessment.
"George was fully assessed by the doctor away from the pitch using the established protocols and processes, and passed fit to return to play. As with all such injuries, if evidence suggesting a loss of consciousness had been available to the medical team at the time of assessment, George would not have been allowed to return to the field of play.
"All rugby supporters will no doubt be delighted to learn that George remains well. Nevertheless, Northampton Saints continues to place player welfare as its number one priority, and is referring George to an independent expert as part of the club's ongoing assessment process and George will be stood down from play until this process is complete.
"There is a concussion management and monitoring protocol in place for all Aviva Premiership matches which provides for independent review and the opportunity for more detailed investigation. This is an ongoing process with several stages, and the club looks forward to contributing to this. Additionally Northampton Saints is seeking to work with all parties to improve the availability of all footage that may assist team medics with injury management."
North suffered four notable blows to the head in the space of five months between November 2014 and March 2015, the last of which resulted in an absence until August 2015.
Barney Corkhill
