RUGBY NEWS:THE INTERNATIONAL Rugby Board is set to change the regulations next year to ensure that players who suffer serious head injuries, such as Chris Ashton, who insisted on carrying on after being knocked out during England's Test against South Africa last month, are permanently replaced.

The IRB set up a concussion working party after its first medical conference last year and it is due to report in the next few weeks.

There is agreement among the medical teams of the major unions that it is in the interests of players to be cautious even when, like Ashton, they plead to stay on. Players would also be closely monitored during their recovery to ensure there is a graduated return to play.

Ashton was knocked out after tackling the South Africa secondrow Victor Matfield head first. It took a minute to bring him round but he remained on the field, despite the concern of the referee, George Clancy, who at one point remarked that the wing looked asleep.

Ashton admitted this week that he had little memory of the match and should have come off.

Elsewhere, Fiji and Samoa, who are in Wales’s World Cup group next year, have, along with Tonga, accused the three Celtic unions of running scared by refusing to back a New Zealand proposal that would allow players who have been capped by one country to play for another.

A relaxation of the rules would benefit the three island teams. “We are devastated,” said Harry Schuster, the president of the Federation of Oceanic Rugby Unions. “There are a number of players who will be equally as disappointed. The Celtic unions were just looking for excuses to stop our proposal because they are so scared of how powerful we’ll become if it goes through.”

Guardian Service