Even back in the last century when I reported on boxing for several years, boxers were ruled out of the ring for a month if they'd been knocked out. If the most brutal of sports back in the 1960s realised it's not a good idea to send back out a competitor whose brain has bashed against the inside of his skull, how the hell can rugby think it's fine to run out a man whose legs went wobbly after an on-field collision?
Rugby today faces massive societal challenges from other sports and past-times for the hearts and minds of our young men and women. But the biggest challenge is the quite reasonable concern parents have for the health and welfare of their children in a game where an integral feature involves players smashing into each other.
If Sexton was your son or brother, how would you feel the first time a 100kg All Black crashes into him in Dunedin?
BLESS THE ROOF
Leading into the test, the weather gave Dunedin a taste of the Southern Ocean. Chilling needle point rain and wind made just walking across the road feel like a hypothermia risk.
But while Ireland and the All Blacks will be cold in Forsyth Barr Stadium, the field will be dry and so will the sell-out crowd.
As one of the 77 per cent of Christchurch ratepayers who submitted "just build the damn stadium in Christchurch", my sentiments about the contrast between the comfort of spectators in Dunedin, compared to what happens in Canterbury, were summed up perfectly by Dunedin journalist Adrian Seconi.
He wrote, "If you are coming from Christchurch you might want to take a tour of the [Dunedin] stadium, since all you've got is a wind-swept paddock in Addington, with a dozen advertising hoardings scattered about."
Thankfully the correct stadium decision may finally be made by the Christchurch council on July 14, now the majority can see it's a political plus to get on with the job. They urgently need to get out of committee rooms, off their butts, and build the damned stadium.
THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT
Seeing a future star for the first time is always exciting. Half a century later I can still clearly remember the first time I saw a skinny, cheery teenager from Ardmore Teachers' Training College called Bruce Robertson dazzle in his debut game at centre for Counties in 1971. He'd go on to become our greatest centre of all time.
While not wanting to put crazy pressure on halfback Folau Fakatava, it's hard not to feel the buzz that quite rightly surrounds this 22-year-old dynamo. Sport doesn't always follow the script we'd like, but it does feel a little like karma that he's likely to make his debut on the ground that made his career, being welcomed on by Aaron Smith, the man who's been his mentor on the way to the big show.
