Another player forced to retire through injury

Newport Gwent Dragons and Wales hooker Lloyd Burns has been forced to retire from rugby, following a neck injury that has seen the hooker out of action since the beginning of January.
Ongoing tests have revealed damage to the aorta resulting in immediate retirement, with possible heart surgery to follow.
Director of Rugby Robert Beale said, everything Lloyd has achieved in life he has earned through hard work and dedication, his enforced retirement from the game has come as a massive shock to Lloyd and his family and will resonate throughout the rugby world.

I am personally relieved that this serious condition has been identified off the field of play and would therefore like to thank our medical team at the Dragons, staff at the Royal Gwent Hospital and University of Wales Cardiff for all their efforts in ensuring Lloyd has and will continue to receive the highest standards of care.

There will be no further comment from the region and all members of the Media are requested to respect Lloyd's privacy by not contacting him or his family at this difficult time.

http://www.rabodirectpro12.com/news/13754.php

It's time something was done to prevent these kinds of injury. How many players have been forced to retire this season alone through injury? it's becoming a serious problem.

Good luck in the future Lloyd and I hope you recover well enough to lead a normal life

Terrible terrible news, but he had a fantastic end to his career- selection for the world cup, and a heck of a story to tell. Worked his way up from Cross-Keys didn't he?

All the best to him for the future

Sad news for the guy.

The main problem with the game today is that players are bigger stronger and faster and injuries are going to increase unless players are allowed to wear more protection like the NFL, which lets be honest I don't think anyone would want, the only other option is that players play less games so their bodies have a chance to recover.

Scarletspiderman

I wasn't aware of the other thread but also I want to debate the wider issue of serious injury causing players to retire.

I like the idea of fewer games. I'm pretty sure the SH have fewer injury retirements and I think that is because their season is structured much better than ours.

or at least part of the reason anyway

Fewer games is the only option, or maybe weight limits for certain positions which once again is a non starter IMO.

I agree that a reduction in the number of games is needed, I just don't see how that is achievable. I looked into it last year for the English teams and to make any significant inroads into reducing games you either reduce the number of teams in the premiership, reduce the number of European cup games or cancel the international season (actually that wouldn't really do enough!). There are 52 weeks in the year, players should really not be playing for more than 30 of those weeks in my opinion. The problem is that with a 12 team premiership you have 22 games plus 2 play offs makes 24, plus the Heineken cup 6 plus quarters, semis and final makes 9. That makes 33 already. You've then got internationals (5 six nations games plus 4 AIs) which then makes 42 games, plus a 6 week lions tour some years (call it 6 games makes 48 games).

I appreciate players don't play in all the games, some are the same weekends etc, but there are still a hell of a lot of games. They say a game of pro rugby is like being in a car crash on the body. International level is apparently around 2 car crashes. Anyone fancy around 40-50 car crashes a week?

The season needs to be restructured completely, but as part of it some games need to go. This won't happen because money.

Edit: I forgot to add there are other games I haven't mentioned, including warm up games and the EDF cup.

McKay
Life's easier for SH front row forwards - they get to scrum against Aussie props about 1 game in 3

Sad news for the guy, although it sounds like the medical care has also highlighted a heart issue that could have compromised his career.

I do though have serious concerns about the number of players, particularly front row forwards, that are getting neck injuries - pretty sure the CTPE sequence and the big impact at scrums is one of the factors in this, and there is only a certain amount you can realistically do to strengthen your neck to compensate for the kind of stresses put on it.

Sad news but he has achieved so much in so little a time and our thoughts are more with your health than anything Lloyd - Great achievements mate, you did us all proud in that jersey and are an inspiration to players developing later in their careers.

Yes - the injury issue will always be a sensitive one, less games maybe and more rotation but in the professional game there are always risks. I think the scrum just needs setting and then the ball being put in - That for me would help to avoid a number of injuries which deteriorate over time.

The report is a wee bit confusing.

Are they saying that Lloyd Burns has been out for a while with a neck injury but has now been found to have an Aortic injury requiring surgery?

Whatever the situation, I wish the man well but I can't tell if he has retired because of the neck injury or perhaps a pre-existing Aortic abnormality.

MrsP - the neck injury forcced him to retire, which is when they found the heart problems (or that is how it was reported the radio), but i guess it doesn't matter which caused the retirement, it is a shame to see him have to reitre just after he finally made his breakthough.

McKay - sorry if that seemed like I was posting the link as a 'been there read that', I would have posted a proper comment, but was tight on time. It does seem worrying the number of players that do end their careers due to serious injuries or late. However I do wonder if there were more back in the day than we think, but there wasn't so much reporting of things like that.

It is worrying how many front row forwards are being forced to retire and how many players have had either neck injuries or shoulder reconstruction surgery - it all stems from players playing too much but much more to do with players being beefed up in their late teens so they are all carrying 2-4 stone too much for their frames, therefore the hits they experience are tremendous, particularly when combined with players being faster and stronger due to professionalism.

The only solution I can see is 1 put a quota on the amount of games each player can play (which nobody wants as it means the best players won't all play in the best games, and the league games will turn into development/squad player games) or for the IRB to tweak the rules to benefit faster/smaller players as opposed to the mamouths we have now (the Norths, Roberts...)

It is a serious problem, and close to getting out of hand. The old sentiment of rugby being a game for anyone of any size is no longer true at all. It's getting to the stage where you have to be a physical freak to play certain positions.

Putting a quota on the number of games is a option, although some players are more resilient to injury than others, and they might feel it's an unfair solution.

Another idea (and one I don't like much) is putting a quota on players' size depending on their position -taking into account height and weight (but not BMI since it's the worst thing ever invented).

How about banning all these muscle building shakes etc..

Didn't have them in my day and it was easy to see who was a back and who was a forward! sometimes it's hard to tell these days just from looking at the players.

But the protein shakes are only a requirement of the intense weight session the players perform- they aren't the direct problem.

True, but since they have become widely used players have got heavier and stronger and hence the injuries have increased.

Yeh, but there are other ways of adding bulk instead of the shakes- just increasing protein intake. Shakes only really exist as meal replacements, and a more time-efficient way of meeting dietary requirements.

It's a real tough one Hersh. I think the only way around it is to target the weights session themselves. But even then, the fundamental, basic reason behind players getting bigger and bigger (and hence more injuries) is that they now have more time to spend in the gym. What's this the result of? The game turning professional!

It's enough to send you cross-eyed

I 2nd that!

by the standard of the game in the NH maybe these gym monkeys should spend more time passing and catching the ball.

Indeed. Some of the handling in the 6N was woeful

Is his aortic problem related to his size at all? Was it due to an impact injury? Was it always weak and the strain of being a professional athlete put to much pressure on it? Was it due to his size and the xtra work his heart needed to do to get the blood round?

I would be intresting if the WRU or RFU did an investigation into injury retirees and the causes to see if there is any link. I imagine they probably are. The RFU did one into hamstring injuries a while back and ended up recommended an extension to the recovery time. Apparantly it resulted in a reduction in recovery.

bluestonevedder wrote:Indeed. Some of the handling in the 6N was woeful

I know the parents of 2 players who have been involved with Welsh regions and they've told me that when players are around 15/16 they are encouraged to hit the gyms as much as possible and to increase their calorie intake to bulk up so that they can compete with the physicality of the modern players, the problem being because they are now carrying more weight than they are naturally built for and as a result their pace, agility & handling skills go down the pan