New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has welcomed a tweak to the head injury assessment rules after flanker Sam Cane missed the second half against South Africa in the Rugby World Cup. Cane was called for a head injury assessment while in the changing room at halftime of the pool match on Saturday in Yokohama. Unfortunately for Cane, the testing room was on the other side of the stadium. By the time he reached the room and was tested, the 10-minute limit for returning to the game had long passed. He was cleared but had to sit out the second half of New Zealand's 23-13 win. 

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'All Blacks' raised issue with match officials 

New Zealand raised the issue with match officials, and World Rugby changed the rule for this tournament and certain stadiums, only. "With immediate effect, the official 10-minute HIA window will commence from the moment the temporarily replaced player enters the HIA room, rather than when the player leaves the playing area," World Rugby said in a statement. "This is to facilitate slightly longer distances to the HIA room from the field of play at some of the venues." 

Hansen was satisfied that 'common sense' prevailed. "I wasn't overly happy about it last night when one of (our) best players is missing 40 minutes of the game. But it is what it is," Hansen said Sunday. He said World Rugby had 'shown good leadership.' "They've acknowledged that they haven't got that part of it right and they've changed it," he said. After the Ireland-Scotland match on Sunday, Yokohama Stadium was hosting two more pool games, both semifinals and the final.

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The Rugby Union World Cup

The Rugby Union World Cup begun of September 20 with Japan playing host. It runs from September 20 to November 2, with games played across Japan. There are 20 teams involved in the World Cup, divided into four groups of five, and the two teams that finish top of the table in their pool after the group matches proceed to the quarter-finals. Twelve teams qualified automatically for RWC 2019 by finishing in the top three of their groups at the 2015 tournament in England. Those teams are New Zealand, who won back-to-back titles and are looking to secure a hat-trick in 2019, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, England, Georgia, Japan and Italy. 

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(Inputs from AP)