Are the All Blacks are out of their minds for enabling SBW to don the gloves? Photo / Nick Reed
Are the All Blacks are out of their minds for enabling SBW to don the gloves? Photo / Nick Reed
Sonny Bill Williams' latest concussion problem shows just how unprofessional and irresponsible New Zealand rugby has been by rubber stamping his boxing career.
The All Blacks are out of their minds for enabling SBW to don the gloves and allowing another World Cup certainty Liam Messam to join this ring circus.
The New Zealand Rugby Union needs to take the gloves off in the fight to protect thousands of players' health. Instead they are pussy footing around, afraid to take on their own star players.
The NZRU could start by ordering the Chiefs to rest SBW instead of procrastinating before the Sharks encounter this weekend.
SBW's troubling health situation has also shown the football codes' well-intentioned concussion tests are a show trial at times. The way this is heading, it is all but inevitable that helmets will be introduced, within five years I predict.
Williams was dinged early against the Stormers but passed the test, continued to play and is now suffering headaches.
Let's play join the dots - in this case they are a mere six weeks apart, the time it has taken SBW to have head issues in rugby since his last professional - to use the term loosely - fight.
While most professional sports ban their athletes from dangerous activities for straightforward competitive reasons, our rugby union sits ringside, literally in some cases, as SBW puts his brain cells in the firing line.
This sends a shocking and frankly inexplicable message to the game and young players in the current environment of awareness and fears about head injuries. The No 1 safety message should be that the head is sacrosanct, especially with rugby and league becoming so high impact.
A former All Black has told me of four big-name comrades that he knows of with dementia so this is not a new issue, but the extent of cross-code boxing is.
I am not an opponent of boxing per se, but the football codes need to go the extra mile to limit brain injuries, and also distance themselves from a sport that is deliberately dangerous and causes horrific long-term issues. Even on the PR front, the NZRU's version of lax parenting is unfathomable.
SBW is open about the effects of his first fight against Francois Botha in 2013, telling the Sydney Morning Herald last month of "troubling cloudiness" in the final rounds and an inability to recall the contest. And yet the All Blacks allowed him to fight another fat fall guy on the eve of the 2015 Super season and now the Chiefs are mucking about with his health.
It's not only in the public eye that the cumulative damage is done. Dr Margaret Goodman, a ringside physician and head of Nevada's athletic medical advisory board, reported that headgear doesn't soften the blows during sparring. She believes concussion is more probable in sparring than fighting, because of the time spent in the training ring. Rest is also vital, and yet SBW flits from football to boxing.
Rugby and league must take this subject more seriously, and ban their professional players from boxing during their careers, to at least underscore the head safety message.
Worrying signs at World Cup Ross Taylor's poor form is not being treated with the alarm it deserves. If Taylor can't fire at all, it's unlikely New Zealand can claim the Cricket World Cup.
I've got a feeling his sacking from the captaincy, when he was usurped by Mike Hesson and Brendon McCullum, has something to do with his struggles overall and a confused display against Bangladesh. There's no doubt that McCullum is the right captain, but Taylor's hurt may well be lingering. I don't believe we've ever got the full story around who and what was exactly involved in Taylor's removal. Here's the question: what may Taylor have found out, or believes he has found out? And will we ever find out? Stay tuned, especially if New Zealand bombs in the World Cup.
Are Ross Taylor's batting struggles related to his sacking from the captaincy? Photo / Getty
Wales gets Pacific treatment So now a so-called major rugby nation knows what it is like to be a Pacific Island battler. Wales are rightly offended that IRB head Brett Gosper tweeted he wanted their pool opponents and hosts England to advance far at this year's World Cup. PI countries know all about being regarded as making up the numbers at Cups. The game is all about money, surprise surprise. Gosper should be castigated, but rugby is world class when it comes to protecting the powerful and closing ranks.
