RUGBY NEWS:BERRICK BARNES'S World Cup hopes may be dashed and his career cut short after severe concussion and headaches stemming from head-knocks prompted the Australia utility back to announce an indefinite break from the game yesterday.
The versatile 25-year-old, who would have been a certainty for Robbie Deans’s squad for the World Cup in New Zealand starting in September, suffered another severe headache after coming off in the first half of the New South Wales Waratahs’ 33-7 win over the Highlanders on Saturday.
After consulting a neurosurgeon, Barnes pulled the pin on his season for the Sydney-based side but said he still held hope of proving his fitness in time for the release of the Wallabies’ World Cup squad, expected on July 10th.
“It’s certainly a goal of mine and something I’d love to be a part of but at the moment it’s not at the forefront of my mind,” Barnes told reporters. “It’s about getting myself right and being able to perform exercise of a physical nature without suffering any of this sort of stuff.”
Barnes, who can play outhalf and inside centre, said earlier this month he wanted to be allowed to wear boxing-style head gear to protect himself. A spokesman for the Australian union would not comment on Barnes’s problem, but said his hopes to wear more protective head gear was a matter between the player and the IRB.
