Sam Underhill has suffered another setback after being forced to isolate, which has pushed back a meeting he had planned this week with a concussions expert.
Bath boss Stuart Hooper has responded to reports that Underhill, who has suffered four concussions in eight months, isn’t being looked after properly by the club.
“The thing you get with Sam is he is a high profile player and people make assumptions which are pretty dangerous. He is in a GRTP (graduated return to play) process which is being hindered at the moment by Covid,” revealed Hooper to Rugby Pass.
โThat will continue and the great thing is that process is now individual and the experts that we use and people we will see will make a programme for him. It is not a blanket that you have to do this or that. It is the week-long process that everyone has to be clear on and beyond that it is very individual.
โAs soon as we get Sam out of isolation then we can get to see a specialist and make sure he has the right plan. What is really important is the facts in this kind of situation and people write and talk about these things based on what they know from their position.
โWe are working with Sam and dealing with it. He is a tremendous rugby player and committed defender who has had a couple of head knocks. It is being handled in a way we believe is the right and safest possible way and you will see that he is excited about getting back to playing.
โHe simply hasnโt seen the specialist and with head knocks and player welfare being a hot topic, when he is out of isolation we will have a plan.โ
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โYouโre f**ked mateโ โ Five times Eddie Jones lost his s**t with England players
#1. Dylan Hartley
A knee injury prevented Hartley from travelling to Japan for the 2019 World Cup and effectively ended his England career.
The phone call he received from Eddie Jones was brutal, Hartley revealed.
“You’re f***ed mate,” Jones told Hartley, despite the hooker’s plea for a chance to prove his fitness.
“Even by the standards of the 6am texts he delivers while running on the treadmill, which make the recipientโs balls tighten and the brain melt, this phone call was brutal,” writes Hartley in his book.
“He was effectively ending my England career with three words.”