Many rugby enthusiasts will be eagerly looking forward tonight to the return of Dane Coles to the Hurricanes starting lineup for their semifinal match with the Lions in South Africa.
For Coles, it has been a long and slow process to return to fitness to play competitive rugby after issues with injury and concussion symptoms.
Concussion has become a more common injury these days as player collisions are so much harder than in the playing days many readers will remember. In addition, players are now required to leave the field if they are concussed or suspected of having been concussed.
In the "good old days" such players had to be literally stretchered off the field before admitting to having had a serious head knock and leaving voluntarily.
They were just expected to "harden up" or just "tough it out".
Not any more. Recent research has shown players in all heavy contact sports such as rugby, league and gridiron who did not treat head knocks and concussion with caution and continued playing without appropriate treatment are, in many cases, experiencing the painful, and sometimes sad, results of such injuries.
For Coles and all elite level players there are formal 'Return to Play' protocols that have to be followed before they can come back.
All such players are benchmarked at the start of the season and monitored regularly to ensure they don't play when not medically fit.
During these matches, players who are suspected of having a head injury or possible concussion have to leave the field and be assessed by a medical doctor before they are allowed to continue - fail the concussion test and you're sidelined for the rest of the game.
Then they have to go through a Graduated Return to Play process under direct medical supervision - it is a carefully controlled process and some players can be out of action for more than a full season.
Local rugby teams do not have the luxury of team doctors and specialist personnel to assist in this process.
But, as of the second round of club rugby this season, we do have the next best thing - the new Blue Card initiative.
This was introduced by the Northland union in 2014 on a trial basis and has now been adopted by all provincial rugby in NZ.
It is an "on field" process aimed at enhancing player safety and welfare.
These are two very worthy aims which I will refer to later to illustrate that not all local teams and clubs have fully understood their importance.
If a referee sees, or believes, that a player has sustained a head injury such as a concussion or suspected concussion during the match he must show a Blue Card to that player.
The player must leave the field and may not return during the match. Notice the use of the word "must."
Subsequently, the player should not return to training or playing until all requirements of the Return to Play protocol rugby have been met.
These include seeing a doctor as soon as possible, and again at the end of the process to be given a clearance to play.
The player should have complete mental and physical rest until the symptoms have cleared - for at least 14 days after the game - before commencing any light, non-contact, activity.
The minimum time out for players 19-years-old and over is at least 21 days.
Currently, Blue Cards are not in use in schoolboy rugby but it is likely to be rolled out shortly for those players.
The referee is central to this process as only he can issue a Blue Card.
All Premier and Senior referees in Whanganui have been through the process to qualify to use the Blue Cards. It is fair to say the process is a learning curve for them too.
So far, six Blue Cards have been issued in the local competitions.
Losing valuable players who are Blue Carded during a match can be frustrating to coaches and team management, especially if the stakes are high at the time.
I have seen or heard of two instances where managers and clubs have deliberately tried to over-rule the referee's decision to Blue Card players.
The first involved two players from opposing teams in a heavy collision that saw both Blue Carded, with one of them having multiple stitches inserted in a head wound.
That player's club tried to have the stand-down period overturned but I understand a specialist in Palmerston North agreed the stand-down should stand.
The second I witnessed myself from close proximity when a player was knocked unconscious and lay on the ground motionless for quite a long period.
He was clearly disoriented when led to the sideline and I was disappointed at the manner in which the manager blamed the referee for a "needless Blue Carding" (or words to that effect) after the game.
In what way were those two players' management adopting "normal care and responsibility for player safety and welfare"?
Both of these incidents show that referees have to make some serious decisions about player safety on the field.
Under Law 3.10 referees have always had the power to send players who they believe should not continue to play in a game because of injury from the field.
No referee does that lightly and, fortunately, most managers concur with such decisions.