Todd Blackadder has called for an immediate change to one of rugby's concussion laws after an incident which saw his team disadvantaged in the final minutes of their loss to the Chiefs in Christchurch on Saturday.
The unfortunate sequence of events occurred when Tim Boys, the openside flanker, was replaced after 67 minutes by Reed Prinsep, who was almost immediately knocked unconcious following an accidental clash of heads.
The concussed Prinsep was taken off the AMI Stadium pitch on a stretcher and straight to hospital after a break in play of at least 10 minutes, following which the Crusaders, 21-22 down at the time, asked to replace him with Boys, only to be told by referee Chris Pollock that the law didn't allow it.
Only those going off for blood or a concussion test are allowed to be replaced by a substituted member of the starting XV, meaning the Crusaders were forced to send replacement halfback Leon Fukofuka into the unfamiliar position of flanker.
The Chiefs went on to score another try through Sam Cane for a 27-21 victory and, while he wasn't suggesting the Prinsep injury controversy was the cause of the defeat, coach Blackadder was critical of a law which appears to defy logic.