The Wales wing George North will not play for Northampton in Saturday’s European Champions Cup quarter-final at Clermont Auvergne after his latest head injury.
North has been knocked unconscious three times in recent months, the last of them in last Friday’s 52-30 win over Wasps.
The RFU’s disciplinary committee on Tuesday found Wasps’ Nathan Hughes guilty of striking with the knee and/or shin and subsequently banned the 23-year-old – who was sent off after colliding with North and catching his head with his knee – for three weeks with immediate effect. The full disciplinary judgment was released on Wednesday [pdf].
The Saints coach, Jim Mallinder, said: “We won’t play George at the weekend. Clearly he had a nasty knock. He’s making good progress – the day after, he was up and about. He’s improving and down there at the moment going to see a neurologist and we’ll wait to see what the experts say.”
The former World Rugby medical adviser Dr Barry O’Driscoll argued that North – the top try-scorer in the competition with seven this season – should not play again this season, but Mallinder said: “There’s been lots of opinion. We’ve got to be careful that we don’t blow anything out of proportion. It’s a tough game, [but] player welfare will always come first.”
North also suffered blows to the head on Wales duty in the autumn and during the Six Nations, but Mallinder is not unduly concerned and will await specialist advice before deciding when to select him again.
“I’m not concerned for him,” Mallinder added. “We’ve got to look after him. We’ve got to make sure the medical experts are happy and satisfied that he is fit to return to play and as soon as they say he is, then we’ll be happy to pick him again.”
Wasps, meanwhile, are contesting the three-week ban for Hughes, with team-mates also rallying round to insist the collision was accidental. The fly-half Andy Goode tweeted: ‘Really can’t believe or understand the ban for Nathan Hughes, firstly we all hope @George_North is ok but there was no intent and I feel the accident has been judged on outcome.”
Does this picture look like Nathan has intentionally hurt North? Bizarre decision that seems out of touch. pic.twitter.com/sx6NMkJtRQ
— Andy Goode (@AndyGoode10) March 31, 2015
Among the other reactions, the Wasps captain James Haskell tweeted: “Astounded would be an understatement”; the England scrum-half Ben Youngs wrote: “game’s gone mad”; and Austin Healey tweeted: “Total joke that Nathan Hughes has been banned for 3 weeks. ‘no intention found’ = accident. Disciplinary panel should be ashamed.”
Iain Balshaw added: “Just seen Nathan Hughes has been given a 3week ban for NOT deliberately kicking @George_North. HaHa obviously this an #AprilFools ! #bravo”
The Wasps director of rugby Dai Young, speaking while the verdict was still pending, confirmed they would appeal any ban. “First and foremost, thankfully George is OK. But we believe it would be really harsh and a real shame if there was a ban on the back of this, because this is probably the biggest game Nathan will play [Sunday’s European Champions Cup quarter-final tie at Toulon], and obviously a ban would penalise Nathan and the team.”