Anthony Watson: I cheated HIA process after Sonny Bill Williams hit in 2017 Lions match

Watson appeared unstable following the collision and had failed in his initial attempt to stand up from a kneeling position.

Watson, who was evaluated for concussion symptoms, was replaced by Jack Nowell, but six minutes later Watson returned to the field and continued to play for the remainder of the Lions’ 24–21 win.

Watson also played 72 minutes of the series decider at Eden Park seven days later.

The recall element of head injury assessment has since changed.

Instead of being asked to recall a list of five words containing results compared to a pristine baseline set at the beginning of the season, a random string is generated from a bank of 20 different words for each evaluation.

Players are penalized for wrong answers, which means learning and repeating all 20 answers will lead to failure.

Watson’s England winger Jonny May He admitted that after a header in a match against Wales in 2019, he tried and failed to pass the same part of the test by repeating the words., external

Players are also tested for their balance and orientation and must pass all elements of the evaluation before they can return to play.

Independent doctors also review video replays and data from smart mouth guards to examine crashes. In rare cases, they may override the evaluation results if they still have concerns about the player’s performance or if there was an error in the administration of the evaluation.

Whether players pass and return to the game or fail and are eliminated will continue to be evaluated in the following hours and days.