Jonny Sexton has insisted he is “fine” and ready to face New Zealand after passing concussion protocols “with distinction”.
The veteran, who turns 37 on Monday, will captain Ireland in the second Test at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium despite walking off the field in the first half of last weekend’s series opener.
After a collision with Sam Kane, Sexton failed his first head injury assessment, known as an HIA1, and did not return to the field.
Ireland caused problems early on, scoring a try through Keith Earls, but New Zealand pulled away with a flurry of counter-kick tries to eventually win 42-19.
After passing two back-to-back HIAs one day after the first Test, enough to rule out concussion under current regulations, Sexton remained in the starting line-up. He explained the situation on Thursday.
“You go for an HIA and you don’t come back, everyone assumes it’s a concussion but it’s not,” he said.
“Just in case there’s a suspect.” [concussion] or if there is any doubt about the player. And apparently the independent doctor sensed my reaction to the knock for some reason, or whether it was one or two little things in the test, but either way, that’s history.
“I went for tests expecting to come back and I wasn’t allowed, which is fair enough, that’s why it’s there. He’s there to protect players if there’s a suspected concussion, that they’re not ruled out, and that’s what happened with the independent doctor.
“As frustrating as it was for me at the time, that’s just life. Yes, go ahead, I took all the tests and apparently passed them all with flying colors. I’m looking forward to this week.”
Although the incident prompted Progressive Rugby, the concussion campaign group, to criticize the HIA process, Sexton praised Ireland’s “fantastic medical staff”.
To keep the streak alive, the tourists need a first-ever away win over the All Blacks. Their captain, who beat New Zealand three times with Ireland and the most once with the British and Irish Lions in 2017, believes his side have put together promising passages of play at Eden Park and are capable of forcing a decider in Wellington on July 16 .
“If you can win the second Test, the momentum always swings towards you and you feel like you have the upper hand,” Sexton said.
“But we haven’t really talked about the series. It’s really just getting back on the horse and making sure we’re doing our best.
“We were happy with some of the things we did last week, but they’re pretty ruthless, aren’t they? We found out the hard way last Saturday.
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