What happens when a player has a head injury or suspected concussion?

Question

Accepted Answer

Recognise and Remove (Law 3.24): if at any point a player is concussed or has suspected concussion, they must be immediately and permanently removed from the playing area. They may not return to that match. A tactically replaced player may come back on to replace a player with a head injury (Law 3.33). Head Injury Assessment (HIA, Law 3.27) applies only in matches approved in advance by World Rugby for the HIA process. In those matches a player needing an HIA: leaves the field and is temporarily replaced, even if all replacements have been used; play cannot restart until the replacement is on becomes permanently replaced if not available to return 12 minutes (actual time) after leaving if also bleeding, may have up to 5 minutes to stem the bleeding before the 12-minute HIA starts In any match not approved for the HIA process, a player with suspected concussion is off for the rest of the game.