Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: Brendon Leonard future uncertain after headclash with Lachie Munroe

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Brendon Leonard future uncertain after headclash with Lachie Munroe

Waikato halfback Brendon Leonard has been released from hospital following a horrible headclash with Northland fullback Lachie Munro on the weekend in the ITM Cup. The match itself was packed with incident, with this being just one of many talking points.

It was a thrilling game that Waikato won 45-33, escalating them to the top three of the standings with both sides scoring five tries apiece. Number nine Leonard scored two tries himself, showing excellent form before he was unfortunately knocked out cold.

Both he and Munroe left the field, with Leonard coming off worst as he was stretchered off with a neck brace and blood pouring from his ear. Munroe himself was concussed, so will miss the next round of action.

Leonard was taken to Northland Hospital to be assessed and was later visited by his teammates, who after that travelled home by bus, arriving in Waikato at 1am.

"Brendon was knocked unconscious and sustained an injury to his right ear," team doctor Paul Kennedy said.

"He was released from the hospital after being cleared for any serious injuries and will be seeing an ear, nose and throat specialist next week to determine the length of time Brendon will be unavailable to play rugby," said Kennedy, who was the medic who treated him on the field after the sickening clash.

He will be monitored this week but could face a lengthy spell on the sidelines, a big loss to the Waikato side. On a positive note though, All Black Mils Muliaina will return to acton for Friday nights game against Otago in Hamilton.

This clip isn’t enjoyable to watch, but it was requested by those keen to find out what exactly happened. All the best to Brendon as he recovers from the nasty knock.

Time: 03:02

1st! Ouch, that looked nasty...

By Anonymous, at October 06, 2010 6:37 pm
Terrific

By Anonymous, at October 06, 2010 6:56 pm
wow

hope he recovers!

By Unknown, at October 06, 2010 7:15 pm
Blood pouring from his ear?
Holy crap

By WelshOsprey, at October 06, 2010 7:23 pm
that was a massive collision :\

By Anonymous, at October 06, 2010 7:52 pm
Just had our inside center do almost the same thing. Head on collision and ruptured his left eardrum. Blood pouring out of there...awful to see, can't imagine what bursting your eardrum feels like...

By Lane, at October 06, 2010 7:58 pm
Eurgh. Blood coming out of eyes, nose and ears makes me weak at the knees.

I hope he recovers well.

By Chris, at October 06, 2010 8:24 pm
"Just had our inside center do almost the same thing. Head on collision and ruptured his left eardrum. Blood pouring out of there...awful to see, can't imagine what bursting your eardrum feels like..."

I was reading a story the other week about a player who caught a knee when going low textbook style and ended up with an exploded eye socket. Eye hanging out and all.

In League a NZ Warriors player was recently left with a monsterous gash down his thigh from a stray stud that left team mates on the pitch retching in horror and disgust. Made me rethink my position on rucking.

Alot of horror injuries in rugby. I wouldn't be surprised with the rate of concussions if somewhere down the line research leads to scrum caps and other head gear being mandatory.

A pro rugby game has a higher knockout rate than Boxing and MMA fights. Pretty scary when you consider players are still getting bigger and more professional.

Anyway hope Leonard pulls up good. Sure one way or the other he'll be involved in the game, even if worst comes to worst and he can't play

By Chris, at October 06, 2010 8:32 pm
Ouch. Best of luck to him. That looked horrible.

By Anonymous, at October 06, 2010 8:49 pm
good god, that looked nasty! hopefully he recovers completely. Should we feel lucky the other player was wearing a headguard??

By dutchrugbyplayer, at October 06, 2010 10:42 pm
@Chris - there is no evidence of scrum caps preventing concussions, it can however lessen the blow. Most players wear them to prevent friction in the scrums and lessen cauliflower ear. They are also helpful with all the cuts and scrapes you get when stuck under a ruck.

Other than that - nasty collision.

By Anonymous, at October 07, 2010 12:10 am
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

By Anonymous, at October 07, 2010 2:46 am
Blame falls on a waikato player, he nudged munroe moments before the clash!!!!

.....in all seriousness though, this is very nasty, and hopefully the bleeding was just something 'split' or something...

Wishing him all the best from the NH!

By ouch, at October 07, 2010 3:12 am
'@Chris - there is no evidence of scrum caps preventing concussions, it can however lessen the blow. Most players wear them to prevent friction in the scrums and lessen cauliflower ear. They are also helpful with all the cuts and scrapes you get when stuck under a ruck.'

dont you contradict yourself there? if scrum caps lessen the blow then it goes hand in hand with preventing a 'minor concussion' and perhaps lessening a more serious one.....

Scrum caps go through rigorous testing before they are allowed anywhere near a rugby pitch/player to see whether they live up to the standards...

By (u-p)rick, at October 07, 2010 3:24 am
soft this comp is 5 times tougher .. B.L will be fine seen him at trainin

By Anonymous, at October 07, 2010 4:09 am
Scary, but looks like he should be okay with proper rest.

By Anonymous, at October 07, 2010 5:04 am
Brendon Leonard is a good player, but so unlucky with injuries. This is a nasty headclash, and I think it was mostly likely compounded by whiplash - his head jerks around just after the collision.

I hope he recovers well.

By Wolfman21, at October 07, 2010 5:21 am
Ouch,
All the best with the recovery Brendon. From across the ditch.

By Swat, at October 07, 2010 6:58 am
That was nasty.

Leonard's a tough guy though, I'm sure if he gets the all clear from the docs he'll be back on the field. Will be very pleased for him if he does.

By edbok, at October 07, 2010 9:49 am
Never seen a better advert for wearing a scrum-cap. Munro comes out of the collision a helluva lot better.

By t0m0, at October 07, 2010 1:37 pm
@Chris
The higher knockout rate statistic is ridiculous! How can a sport where the aim is to actually punch the head repetitively until knockout have a lower rate than rugby!

By Anonymous, at October 07, 2010 2:27 pm
Most fights in boxing end without knockout.

That's eve more the case in MMA. Where most fights end with submission or a points victory.

There's a KO in practically any rugby game you watch. They account for over 30% of rugby injuries and more often than not go unreported due to the rules on such injuries(Players sidelined for a few weeks).

Your argument is fallacious. You assume the sole aim of boxing is to knock somebody out, it isn't. Regardless, even if it was, aim and effect are two different things.

Your general understanding of boxing is way off.

By Chris, at October 07, 2010 4:31 pm
"A pro rugby game has a higher knockout rate than Boxing and MMA fights."

"Your general understanding of boxing is way off."

Chris, your general understanding of statistics seems off as well.

In a boxing match or MMA match, there are only two competitors, whereas in a rugby match there can be as many as 44. Assuming one knock out per rugby match using 52 competitors, you would have to have less than one KO per 22 boxing or MMA matches to beat that ratio.

Lastly, where do you get the data to back your assertion that at least one rugby player gets knocked out per match? I watch a good bit of rugby and haven't seen anything close to that rate.

By Bobby Nations, at October 07, 2010 6:01 pm
Eh, change 52 to 44 in my last post. Sheesh.

By Bobby Nations, at October 07, 2010 6:02 pm
RE: all the discussion about scrumcaps - not really much help in these cases unfortunately. I, whilst wearing a canterbury headguard, clashed heads with someone by diving for a loose ball on the ground (both of us with a 30 metre run up, and going full tilt). I suffered a depressed skull fracture and spent 4 hours in surgery and have 6 titanium plates across my head. The chap who mentioned wearing them to prevent cuts / friction / cauliflower ear etc was pretty accurate. A proper blow to the head and it's not going to make any real difference. And I'm speaking as both a rugby player and a trauma surgeon.

By Anonymous, at October 07, 2010 11:47 pm
Yeah, caps don't do anything except prevent cuts graves and stuff to the head.
They certainly don't stop concussion, since that's caused by the brain rattling around in the skull, and a cap can't help that.

By Jono, at October 08, 2010 12:25 am
In a boxing match or MMA match, there are only two competitors, whereas in a rugby match there can be as many as 44. Assuming one knock out per rugby match using 52 competitors, you would have to have less than one KO per 22 boxing or MMA matches to beat that ratio.

.........

Well I was talking about per game/fight. Not per player lol.

Obviously on an individual basis what I said will sound insane.

And I get my stats from myself. I have tens of TBs of Rugby, Boxing and MMA on my externals.

You find it unbelievable because there's largely a conspiracy by the IRB to hide and coverup the concussion epidemic in rugby. And make no mistake that's what it is.

By Chris, at October 08, 2010 8:31 am
Wow, a lot of 'experts' on scrum caps round here....

The fact is NFL players with their helmets still get concussion...

....Scrumcaps help prevent injury to the head in any shape of form....

Its basically like crumple zones on cars....yeh at the end of the day if its a head on crash going a fair speed your car is still f*cked and most likely you'll have a nice dose of whiplash but without this 'protection' you'd be worse off...

The guy who got a skull fracture a few posts up....ofcourse something soft isnt going to stop a fracture, but it will have definately dampened the blow somewhat.....

By Anonymous, at October 09, 2010 12:36 am