UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP officials have apologised to Cardiff Blues player Aled Summerhill and terminated a contract with the social media agency which created an “inappropriate” TikTok video following his concussion.

Summerhill yesterday highlighted the clip, which showed him lying face down after suffering a head injury during an attempted tackle on the Emirates Lions’ Edwill van der Merwe.

“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,” Summerhill wrote on Twitter — in a post which has since been deleted — while Cardiff said they were “appalled” by the clip.

“The United Rugby Championship has apologised to Aled Summerhill of Cardiff Rugby after a social media post focusing on an incident that led to a concussive injury was posted to our official TikTok account,” a statement issued on Thursday said.

“Injuries, and in particular head injuries, are always a serious matter requiring sensitivity and this post was in contravention of the URC’s values and editorial guidelines.

“The oversight processes around publishing to our official channels have rigorous protocols but in this instance unfortunately they were not followed as a result of an individual error.

“The post has been removed and actions have been taken to ensure this never occurs again.”

Pointing to the URC’s recent trial schemes in the area of player welfare, the statement added: “The URC would like to extend its apology to Aled’s family, friends, team-mates, his club and anyone else who rightly found the relevant post to be inappropriate.

“The URC has investigated the events that led to this post with the content agency contracted to post to the URC TikTok account and as a result the supplier’s relationship with URC has been terminated.”

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