Former Saracens flanker Matt Hankin has alleged that he suffered a career-ending concussion during a club tour.
The player has had a long-running battle to recover from concussion and one which he candidly shone light upon in an interview with the RPA, describing the injury as making him feel anxious, isolated and a prisoner in his own home.
The 27-year-old has now revealed he suffered the injury by being hit in the head by teammate Richard Barrington in a Budapest bar in 2015.
It's been a season from hell for Sarries with the reigning Premiership champions already fined £5m and relegated for salary cap breaches.
The Sun reports that In papers lodged at the High Court in London last Friday, it is said Barrington '... caused injury to the claimant by striking him on the head whilst he was wearing a metal helmet with a fire extinguisher'.
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In the documents seen by The Sun, Hankin also alleges ex-Sarries physio Nicholas Court failed to properly assess his injury when the team returned to London.
And he claims former club doctor Ademola Adejuwon was 'negligent' in allowing him to play rugby three weeks later, when he allegedly suffered further injury.
Barrington and Adejuwon also have lawsuits filed against them as part of the case.
RANKED | The 5 TOUGHEST England players to have ever lived…
Meet the five toughest English rugby players that ever lived.
From the loose cannons who start swinging punches at the slightest provocation to the silent assassins who relish putting in game-changing hits, every rugby team has its on-field enforcers.
5. Jonny Wilkinson
A fly-half? Yes, but this is no ordinary number 10. Pound for pound, Wilko is still the most destructive tackler the game has ever seen and few players have endured so much physical punishment yet kept coming back for more. Tough doesn’t even come close.
4. Mike Teague
During the late 80s and early 90s, Gloucester and England fans relished the sight of "Iron Mike" rampaging around the field, socks rolled down. A big-hitting, hard-carrying No.6, Teague was voted Man of the Series on the brutal 1989 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia. Enough said.
3. Lewis Moody
He's the man who once traded punches with Martin Johnson during a tackling drill at Leicester and is famed for his fearless charges into every ruck and every maul. Mad Dog' certainly lived up to the nickname.
2. Martin Johnson
The former England captain was as tough as they come, once having to leave the field to have a cut to his eye tended to before returning to the field moments later.
1. Wade Dooley
Never far from trouble, "The Blackpool Tower" was a regular fixture in the England second row from 1985 to 1993. The Lancashire policeman’s charge sheet included fracturing Phil Davies’s cheekbone in Cardiff in 1987, and perforating Doddie Weir’s eardrum in the Calcutta Cup match in 1992.
