Injury panel finds Wales’ Francis should not have played on against England

The Wales prop Tomas Francis should have been “immediately and permanently removed” from the field during last month’s Six Nations match with England, a review panel has concluded.

Francis suffered a head injury midway through the first half of his country’s 23-19 defeat at Twickenham on 26 February. Television footage showed the 29-year-old staggering near his own try line following a clash with teammate Owen Watkin, while he appeared to require the pads of the posts to hold himself up after getting back to his feet.

He was subsequently taken off the pitch for assessment by an independent match-day doctor and, having been deemed fit to continue, played until the 56th minute.

While the head injury review panel judged that Ospreys player Francis should have been taken off without an assessment, and when one was erroneously carried out should not have been permitted to return under World Rugby guidelines, no disciplinary action will be taken against those involved.

Six Nations Rugby said it would work in collaboration with its unions and the governing body to mitigate the risk of a similar incidents.

In a statement, it said: “The HIA (head injury assessment) review panel concluded that in this instance one or more ‘Criteria 1’ indications had been present that should have resulted in Francis being immediately and permanently removed from play.

“As part of the review process, the panel found that a number of factors appeared to have contributed to the failure to identify these indications that ultimately led to Francis not being removed from the field of play.

“The panel highlighted that it had the benefit of time for review of the video footage and the other materials at length, without any match-day pressure, and also had