A Paarl Boys’ High School rugby player is fighting for his life after sustaining a head injury in a match earlier this week.
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The 17-year-old pupil, Chris Jordaan, is in ICU following the incident against Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies) at a rugby festival in Pretoria on Tuesday.
This comes a year after a Dale College player died because of an injury he sustained on the field.
Jordaan was rushed to the hospital, where he was taken into surgery immediately after suffering bleeding to the brain.
Speaking to IOL, the 17-year-old’s father, Chris Jordaan senior, said that the loose forward suffered whiplash from a tackle while his head hit the ground with unusual force.
He was then transported to Muelmed Hospital after being quickly attended to by the Paarl Boys’ travelling medical team.
Medics performed first aid, and the teenager was rushed to the hospital, where he underwent a four-and-a-half-hour operation to alleviate the bleeding.
He has not regained consciousness and is in a stable condition.
‘He had bleeding on the brain and took quite a serious knock,’ the school’s First XV rugby coach told IOL.
‘He is in a stable condition but hasn’t woken up since the incident and we are very concerned.’
‘We have watched the video and everything suggests it was a freak accident.’
‘It doesn’t look like anything malicious. It wasn’t head-to-head contact or anything like that at all.’
‘Our medical team that travels with the team immediately ran onto the field to help him. They stabilised him and the ambulance came on and moved him as quickly as possible to hospital.’
The incident comes a year after a Dale College pupil, Liyabona Teyise, died after suffering a head injury during a match in East London.
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