England coach Steve Borthwick has come under fire from a leading rugby player safety group who have blasted his selection of Maro Itoje to face the All Blacks as a “very public backwards step” for player welfare.
Itoje – one of the key members of England’s tight five – will line up against the All Blacks in the opening match of the two-test series against the All Blacks in Dunedin.
But his selection has been blasted by Progressive Rugby, a group featuring high-profile players, ex-players and medical experts campaigning for a safer playing environment.
An agreement between the Rugby Football Union, the Rugby Players’ Association and Premiership Rugby is meant to limit English players to 2400 minutes of rugby – or playing in 30 to 35 matches – each season.
After playing the entirety of England’s 52-17 win over Japan in Tokyo – a warm-up match for Borthwick’s team on the way to New Zealand – Itoje goes into Saturday’s test just 21 minutes shy of that time limit.
Progressive Rugby co-founder Professor John Fairclough – a leading orthopaedic surgeon and emeritus professor of sports exercise medicine – said the selection was a disappointing move from Borthwick, whose side are seeking their first test win over the All Blacks in New Zealand since 2003.
“The selection of Maro Itoje to play New Zealand is a very public backwards step for player welfare,” Fairclough said.
“Dismissing game time limits when it suits because fans ‘want to see the best players’ and a player is ‘desperate to play’ undermines attempts to protect players from further injury including the potentially devastating consequences of degenerative brain disease.
“Players will always want to play, but now, more than ever, leaders with the responsibility of securing the future of this wonderful sport need to demonstrate that the lessons of the past have been learned.”
Saturday’s test marks the dawn of Scott Robertson’s era as head coach of the All Blacks.
Progressive Rugby is pushing for law changes and other initiatives to protect players at all levels “from brain trauma and broken bodies”.
The British-based body – whose New Zealand links include the late Billy Guyton, Shane Christie, Carl Hayman and concussion expert Doug King – is pushing for “better protection” for rugby players that it says will “ensure the long-term future of this great game”.
That includes claiming the current England player limits are already too high and seeking to have them reduced on a positional basis.
For instance, that would see loose forwards playing fewer games than a first-five; with lesser limits given to positions more likely to endure high impacts during matches.
Progressive Rugby, which wasn’t criticising Itoje for wanting to play, said the selection was a bad look when player welfare – and the debilitating long-term effects of concussion – was being so widely discussed.
Borthwick was quizzed on Itoje’s selection – and the fact he is so close to reaching the 2400-minute threshold – on BBC’s Rugby Union Daily podcast this week.
He said despite Itoje’s huge workload – which amounted to almost non-stop training going back 13 months – he was comfortable with the player’s selection.
He was unequivocal that Itoje’s selection was in the best interests of the player and the team, then questioned whether the minute threshold was the best way to judge a player’s workload.
“Everybody wants to see the best players from both countries on the pitch, and so everybody would want to see Maro Itoje on the pitch,” Borthwick said.
“I think the game and it is just one way of counting load if you like.
“There are plenty of other ways in terms of the training volume, the individual programme that Maro is on, the recovery processes that are put in place for every player, and especially for Maro.
“Also, what has to be considered is what happens post this series.
All those things have been factored in to ensure that Maro plays this weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing him being an English shirt again.
“I think the important thing is you speak to Maro. And Maro is always so desperate to play for England, and it’s fantastic to have a player of his quality and his experience, every day training the way he wants to train, leading the players the way I want to lead [them], because he’s a key leader within the squad now.”
Borthwick told the BBC the England team’s medical, strength and conditioning teams had a positive and open dialogue with the clubs they had selected players from.
That was to ensure the “preparation for every player is maximised”.
“That’s been the case with Maro alongside all players.”
The 2400-minute limit was introduced in 2018.
The time limit is the equivalent of 30 full matches. The level – which the English national team have breached before – was settled on after medical advice that players who played 30 games had a “significantly higher injury burden in the following season”.
The Herald revealed last weekend how Guyton had been made a posthumous member of Progressive Rugby’s player welfare group; joining a list of living high-profile ex-international players including ex-All Black, England, Wales, Scotland, Wallabies and Canada representatives who support the group’s campaigning.
Guyton’s tragic plight was highlighted to Progressive Rugby by former All Black Sevens and Māori All Blacks star Shane Christie who was also forced to retire after a succession of concussions.
Fairclough added it was “stories like Billy’s that fuel our drive to keep lobbying governing bodies for the off-field changes that can mitigate the risk to players at all levels of this wonderful game”.
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 30 years of newsroom experience.
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