URC left with egg on face over Lions vs Cardiff video

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The United Rugby Championship has apologised unreservedly to Cardiff back Aled Summerhill after posting a video making light of his concussion in a match against the Lions on social media.

The video shows Summerhill concussed in an attempted tackle on Lions wing Edwill van der Merwe during the URC match between the Lions and Cardiff in Johannesburg.

It was originally posted on the URC’s TikTok account, but also went viral on Twitter when Summerhill picked it up and slammed the competition organisers for the post.

“Really didn’t think head injuries were something to joke about with all that’s going on with it within the sport, there we are then @URCOfficial,” Summerhill tweeted.

The post comes little over a week after Stormers lock David Meihuizen was forced to retire from rugby at the age of 24 due to repeated concussions.

URC chief Martin Anayi quickly responded to Summerhill by saying that the video should not have been posted and they will be investigating why it went up.

“This should NEVER have gone up,” Anayi replied to Summerhill’s tweet. “We are investigating now with our social media agency – it has been removed – we take player safety very seriously indeed.”

Meanwhile, through its social media channels, the URC posted a public apology to Summerhill.

“We’d like to apologise unreservedly to Aled, his family & club for this post. Injuries are not to be made light of & our oversight processes around publishing wasn’t good enough. The original post has been removed & we will take immediate action ensuring this never occurs again.

“We recognise that the content was not in line with our values. Apologies to Aled again and we hope you have a speedy recovery!”

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Dylan Jack