'Frightening' Tomos Williams scenes leave TV viewers horrified during Wales v France match

There were worrying scenes in the opening minutes of Wales' Six Nations clash with France as Tomos Williams appeared to suffer a serious head injury.

The scrum-half struggled to get to his feet after tackling Jonathan Danty, and was clearly concussed after getting his head on the wrong side of the French centre.

Williams tried to stand after the incident before collapsing to the turf again.

He then staggered back into the Welsh defensive line, looking alarmingly dazed. He was replaced moments later by Kieran Hardy. Follow live updates of Wales v France here.

The game was not stopped as Williams lay face down on the Principality turf, with France scoring the first try of the game moments later through Anthony Jelonch.

TV viewers expressed their horror at the incident on social media, with many asking why the game was not stopped immediately.

Loosehead Gareth Thomas also left the pitch for an HIA ten minutes later, after being hit in the head by the knee of Antoine Dupont as he tried to bring down the French scrum-half.

The incident comes just a fortnight after similar scenes at Twickenham, when Welsh front row Tomas Francis was seen staggering and holding himself up on his own posts following a clash of heads with teammate Owen Watkin.

Francis initially remained on the pitch after being checked by a medic before being removed to undergo a HIA, which he duly passed before returning to the pitch around 10 minutes later, and played on until he was replaced by Leon Brown in the 56th minute.

But, under World Rugby laws, any player who shows visible signs of balance disturbance/ataxia after a head blow should be removed immediately and permanently from a match without a HIA.

In an open letter to the Welsh Rugby Union, World