Former British and Irish Lions wing Anthony Watson has claimed he cheated a head injury assessment in the second Test of the 2017 series in New Zealand.
The 32-year-old says he passed a part of the test designed to check a player’s recall by having previously committed a list of five words to memory.
Watson had been knocked down by a high tackle from Sonny Bill Williams that earned the All Blacks star a red card.
Speaking on a new BBC documentary, “Ben Youngs Investigates: How Safe Is Rugby?”, Watson admitted his intention was to return to the pitch as soon as possible.
“I knew the impact was big and as I got in to do the protocol I was starting to feel a bit hazy,” he said.
“At that stage I knew the protocols — they give you five words to remember so it is ‘elbow-apple-carpet-saddle-bubble’. That is what I had.
“I managed to get through the walking tests and all of that and then when it came to the words, I knew it off by heart so I knew I was going to get straight back on.”
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Watson returned to the pitch for the remainder of match, and also played the majority of the drawn decider at Eden Park one week later.
The recall element of head injury assessments has since changed to incorporate a more random method, meaning committing a prior set of words to memory is not enough.
