Former Sale Sharks star Sam James was involved in a sickening incident on Saturday when he was knocked out following a head shot.
The English back, who made one appearance for the Red Rose in an uncapped game against the Barbarians, was playing for Racing 92 against Montpellier in the Top 14.
It occurred late on in the match with the Parisians looking to overturn a 21-17 deficit. They had gone 80 metres to give themselves a chance when James knocked on.
However, as he went to ground, the arm of ex-Springboks centre Jan Serfontein connected with the full-back’s head and immediately knocked him unconscious.
Referee Tual Trainini stopped the game and, after receiving treatment, James was stretchered off and taken to hospital.
Rarely seen a knockout like that
“He was unconscious and he convulsed,” Racing scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec said. “I’ve rarely seen a knockout like that.”
Thankfully, according to Racing coach Dimitri Szarzewski, the update on the centre was promising.
“The news is reassuring. He has regained consciousness and the doctor is rather optimistic. Obviously, it’s quite impressive since he was unconscious on the ground for a while. But he should be fine,” Szarzewski said.
The incident was referred to the television match official but controversially no penalty was awarded as the referee deemed that Serfontein was not at fault due to James falling to ground.
As a result, with it being the last action of the match, the game ended with Montpellier triumphing 21-17 to move them above Racing in the table.
Unsurprisingly, the Parisians were not happy. Gael Fickou argued Racing’s case rather vociferously and Le Garrec agreed with his captain.
“I don’t understand the decision either, to be honest,” Le Garrec added. “I’ll let people talk about it, but I’ve been watching rugby since I was little and I’ve rarely seen a match that ends with an action like that.
“Afterwards, I’m not in a position to judge on the spur of the moment, but when you see the state of our player on the ground, it raises questions. He was knocked out straight away and the match ended there. It’s a bit strange.”
Szarzewski’s view
Szarzewski also felt that the capital-based outfit were hard done by with that decision, although he did not place the blame for their defeat on the officiating.
“From what I understood and I haven’t seen the images again, the referee would have said that it wasn’t done on purpose, that it was accidental. But all high tackles are accidental,” he added.
“It would be too easy to put our defeat on the back of Tual Trainini because we had the opportunities to score too and we didn’t know how to do it.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/english-back-hospitalised-after-convulsing-following-sickening-top-14-incident
