Rugby: Mayhew takes up new position with NZRFU

By WYNNE GRAY

Of the many medical debates which occur in rugby, Dr John Mayhew considers concussion to be the one he gets the most flak about.

The was-he or wasn't-he concussed discussion about Christian Cullen's recent head clash with Springbok flanker Corne Krige brought Mayhew a sackful of correspondence.

The questions were whether Cullen was qualified to return from the bloodbin or whether he should have been kept away as a concussion victim.

On both counts, Mayhew said he was satisfied with his judgments.

"I know it looked bad but he responded as soon as we got to him and he did have a cut inside his mouth, so he was able to have a rest and then return," he said.

"Concussion is a complex issue and the three weeks stand-down idea has been waived. It is still a good guideline for kids or younger players, but at the highest level, most of the players get tested and then, if they get a head knock, they can be checked against their original readings.

"Interestingly, the presence or absence of unconsciousness does not indicate the severity of concussion," Mayhew said.

It is a subject he will get even more interrogation about as he takes on a fulltime job as medical adviser to the New Zealand Rugby Football Union.

The appointment means Mayhew has quit his general practice in Birkenhead on Auckland's North Shore to immerse himself in the NZRFU business and planning for the Millennium Centre, an institute for sport and health due to open in the East Coast Bays next year.

Mayhew will be responsible for the medical welfare of all the country's professional rugby players and any other medical issues connected to his favourite sport. That might be drug doping, injury prevention, spinal units, insurance programmes and medical research, as well as his work with the IRB.

The 43-year-old is also medical adviser for Oceania on soccer's controlling body, Fifa, but the oval ball game has been his fascination since his playing days as a lock with the Northcote club and his association with the All Blacks starting in the late 1980s.

"I am reluctantly moving out of work as a GP and have told my patients this week," he said.

Mayhew will stay in Auckland but travel regularly to NZRFU headquarters in Wellington and throughout the country as he liaises with the medical staff in Super 12 and NPC franchses.

As part of the IRB medical committee, Mayhew has argued for several rule changes, without any great success. He would like an injury interchange rule to assess any injuries. That would stop any abuse of the bloodbin and remove the need for teams to carry on with 14 players.

Five minutes would be enough for a damaged player to be assessed while a temporary replacement went on.

Under the rules, any player treated in the bloodbin goes back when the team doctor, rather than the match doctor, decides.

"That is a rule which is getting abused as well," Mayhew said. "We have seen, though, very appropriate cases where Jason Little went off in the test in Sydney to have a huge cut sewn up and he was off for 15 or 20 minutes and that was entirely appropriate.

"What we proposed at the last meeting of the IRB was a time limit on the bloodbin which has to be monitored by an independent official."

Mayhew's personal view is that rugby should become a 22-man game.

"We should have 15 players on the field all the time and just get on with it," he said.

"Whatever rule you make people will get round it. There are anomalies now, so why not have 22 and be done with it?"