Conor O ’ Shea has revealed his concern at the increasing force of rugby ’ s collisions after Harlequins and England full back Mike Brown was consigned to even more time on the sidelines to recover from the latest high-profile head injury . Brown has not played since the final round of the RBS 6 Nations on March 21 , is still suffering headaches after a week-long holiday in Dubai and no closer to being declared symptom-free . The episode raises questions about whether the 29-year-old was brought back too early for England ’ s title-decider against France , having been knocked out in the Test against Italy five weeks earlier following a crunching collision with Andrea Masi . Mike Brown is knocked out in a collision with Italy ’ s Andrea Masi in the Six Nations last month . Brown was out cold for approximately eight minutes and has n't played since the Italy game on March 21st . ‘ It ’ s a concern because I don ’ t like someone coming in with something you can ’ t diagnose , ’ said O ’ Shea , Quins ’ director of rugby . ‘ Sometimes a physio will sit you down and say , “ It ’ s six to 12 weeks out ” . Here it could be tomorrow or it could be whenever — we don ’ t have a timescale . There ’ s no doubt that a decade or even a year ago Browny would be back out on the pitch . ‘ You want to see the gladiatorial side of things — the big hits that we ’ ve all grown up with . It was once a badge of honour that you got up and got on with it . But at least we ’ re now aware . Is it a concern for the game that we ’ re seeing collisions of the nature that we are ? Yes , it has to be. ’ Brown will have played just six of his club ’ s last 19 games after sitting out of the coming weekend , and his England team-mates Joe Marler and Chris Robshaw have featured in only eight of the last 18 . Northampton have ruled out George North , who is suffering from his own concussion problems after being knocked out in three different collisions , until the end of the month and O ’ Shea must also deal with the absence of one of his marquee players . George North suffered his third concussion in four months during Northampton 's defeat to Wasps . ‘ You can look at a succession of events for George North , whereas this is a follow-on of symptoms from one event , ’ said O ’ Shea . ‘ Against Italy it was as big a hit as I ’ ve seen someone take . It was quite frankly a monstrous hit . I was pretty worried when I saw it live . ‘ Is it tough on us having the England full back for six out of 19 games and still indeterminate ? Yes , but there are more important things than rugby . ’
Shea was consigned to even more time on the sidelines to recover from the latest high-profile head injury . he has not played since the final round of the RBS 6 Nations on March 21 , is still suffering headaches after a week-long holiday in Dubai . The episode raises questions about whether the 29-year-old was brought back too early for England ’ s title-decider against France .