World Rugby defends allowing Australia scrumhalf Nic White to play while concussed

World Rugby has come in support of the officials for allowing Australia scrumhalf Nic White to play while concussed during the encounter against Ireland at Aviva Stadium.

White returned to action after suffering two successive head knocks in the game on 19th November and featured in the last 26 minutes of the game which Ireland went on to win 10-13.

An independent investigation concluded that the the second incident was not seen by the officials or communicated. The statement from the governing body also indicated that had the second incident was brought to the notice of the officials, White would have been permanently removed from the remainder of the game.

"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," read a World Rugby statement.

“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.”