As the RFU continues to look into the risk of degenerative brain diseases caused by rugby, here is a reminder of a number of players forced to retire due to head injuries.
Rugby concussions that have ended careers:
1. Shontayne Hape
The former England centre gave a shocking insight into concussion in rugby and claimed how players are regularly pressured to return quickly from head injuries and claims they routinely cheated cognitive tests designed to monitor their brain function throughout the season. Hape who was capped 13 times by the Red Rose called time on his career in 2013 while playing in France for Montpellier.
The former Bath centre gauged he’d been concussed close to 20 times in his career and said his own condition got so bad he could not remember his PIN number and was left with “depression, constant migraines and memory loss”.
2. Andy Hazell
The seven-times capped England flanker spent 17 seasons with Gloucester playing for than 250 games for the Cherry & Whites before quitting on medical advice in February, 2014, at the age of 35.
“It started back in August. I got concussed, came back and then got concussed again. I worked hard to get back, and tried everything, but it still wasn’t right,” said Hazell.