The plot thickens.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has somewhat muddied the water surrounding Johnny Sexton’s latest injury by claiming that the out-half passed a pitch-side questionnaire following his suspected concussion during Saturday’s 51-10 defeat by Wasps.
Sexton departed during the first half of Saturday’s game at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry after a clash of heads with Wasps’ Brendan Macken and it was confirmed by Leinster after the game that he had failed the Head Injury Assessment.
INJURY UPDATE: Johnny failed HIA, enters return to play protocols & Marty hamstring issue. #WASvLEIN
— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) January 23, 2016
But speaking to the media on Monday Cullen said that, contrary to the version of events that was given after Saturday’s game, Sexton actually passed the questionnaire and was ready to come back on to the field before the medical staff “erred on the side of caution” and withdrew the 30-year-old from the action.
“He clashed heads with Brendan Macken fairly early in the game, after just eight minutes,” Cullen said.
“He did his HIA assessment and passed the questionnaire fine. He was ready to come back out but the docs just erred on the side of caution.”
When pressed Cullen confirmed that Sexton passed Saturday’s HIA.
This news will be a boost for Joe Schmidt, and given Sexton’s history he will be surely glad to see that Leinster are not taking any risks with their No 10.
However for the second year in succession the Ireland head coach goes into the Six Nations with question marks over the fitness of his out-half.
Sexton was stood down from action for 12 weeks at the end of 2014 while playing for Racing Metro having suffered four separate concussions that year.
He missed Ireland’s opening game against Italy but returned for the 18-11 victory over France on February 14.
George Hook has claimed that Sexton should consider retiring from rugby before he does himself some serious damage.
Cullen also confirmed that Marty Moore suffered a grade two hamstring tear and will be out of action for six to eight weeks.
