WE ARE all fully supportive of the HIA protocol, but abuse raises significant issues.
Nigel Owens, clearly aware from the several replays that the French replacement No.9, Antoine Dupont, had suffered a knee injury and not a head injury, was powerless.
The French wanted Maxime Machenaud back on, so a head injury was declared, and Nigel couldn’t argue. Wayne Barnes suffered the same issue in the infamous 100 minute France-Wales match in 2017.
The solution is obvious. Since the HIA protocol allows the official match doctor to affect player replacement, the official match doctor should, ...