Marco van Staden's career appears to be over after he suffered a head injury while playing for Leicester Tigers. Photo: Getty Images/Alex Livesey
Do you remember Leicester's Boxing Day win over Bristol in 2021? Perhaps, as Guy Porter's red-clock try preserved the Tigers' unbeaten record, which ultimately saw them lift the Premier League trophy six months later under the tutelage of Steve Borthwick, now England manager. /p>
Leicester number eight Marco van Staden's memories of that day are likely to be very different. He had to leave the field in the 23rd minute following a nasty clash of heads with Bristol defender Fitz Harding — and would never play for Leicester again after failing to quickly overcome his concussion.
Tigers, to the credit of their medical team, have agreed an early release from Van Staden's contract in July 2022, with Borthwick confirming the defender's stay was cut short due to injury eight months after the incident in Bristol. Van Staden returned to South Africa to continue his recovery from a head injury, making just eight appearances for Leicester. There were rumors that, given that this was not his first head injury, Van Staden's career was over; that the back rower, nicknamed Eskom after a South African energy company because of his (now ironic) ability to turn out opponents' lights, would not play again.
Fast forward just over a year and the picture contrasts markedly. Van Staden has risen to prominence in recent times after being announced as the Springboks' third choice and largely makeshift hooker following a tournament-ending injury to world leading hooker Malcolm Marx. The flanker, on South Africa's bench against Ireland on Saturday as one of seven forwards to come on, is being turned into a makeshift front-row player; a position on the field that puts as much strain on the head and neck area as anywhere else.
Van Staden's return to elite rugby began with Jake White's Bulls and then progressed to » Springboks» by Jacques Nienaber. Just 67 days after Leicester's mutual release, Van Staden, after spending eight months on the sidelines with concussion, announced his new club, the Bulls. Not once in their announcement did the South African franchise mention the cloud of head injuries that had been circling Van Staden since his injury.
Ten months after Van Staden returned to the Bulls, lawyers representing 169 former professionals and 66 former amateur athletes, including Steve Thompson and Alix Popham, appeared in court at the first preliminary hearing in the case against World Rugby. The Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union are addressing early onset dementia and possible chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE, a progressive and fatal brain disease associated with repeated head injuries) caused, they claim, by blows to the head during their careers.
In South Africa, Van Staden's concussion saga was barely mentioned. White, the Bulls head coach, when asked by News24, said Van Staden had been «symptomatic for eight months» and had «not even remotely complained of headaches during his own training during that period.» White added: “The risk is no different from any other.”
Nienaber, the Springboks head coach, appears to have addressed the situation publicly only once, immediately following Van Staden's return to the Bulls.
“He was part of us last year and put in some decent performances, but , unfortunately, he lost consciousness due to a concussion,” Nienaber said. “I went out and saw him when we were doing training camps overseas and he was in the process of being cleared.”
Telegraph Sport approached South African Rugby this week but the governing body was unwilling to comment.
“I thought no one would take a chance on me,” Van Staden himself briefly commented on this matter just before signing with the Bulls. “I have recently been given the green light by medical experts in England and here to play again. All brain functions tested were normal and above normal,” he told Netwerk24.
Out of necessity, rugby has made great strides in identifying, treating and preventing concussion, but the elephant in the room with Van Staden is studying the symptoms and how you deal with them shows there is still work to be done.
“There’s a part of your mind that thinks it’s all over,” Van Staden later said after signing with the Bulls. «Not so much because of the injury, but because [talk about] concussion is a difficult topic for teams around the world.
«I thought no one would take a chance on me because it's a risk, even though I felt great and excited to play again. But we believe that the Lord has a plan.”
Let’s hope so.
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