10 Rugby Stars Who Overcame Personal Tragedies to Carry on Playing - Page 2 of 3 - Ruck

10 Rugby Stars Who Overcame Personal Tragedies to Carry on Playing

4. Brian Moore

In 2009 Moore revealed in his autobiography Beware of the Dog that he had been sexually abused as a child by a churchgoing friend of his parents and also his struggle to come to terms with his abandonment by his birth mother. His book would go on to win the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 2010. Despite his tough start to life, Moore built a reputation as one of the hardest players of the amateur era, the snarling ‘Pitbull’ packing down as England’s hooker in 64 Tests.


5. Lawrence Dallaglio

Dallaglio’s 19-year-old sister, Francesca, a ballerina, was the youngest of 51 people to die in the Marchioness disaster in 1989, when the pleasure boat Marchioness, which played host to a private birthday party, sank after being hit by the dredger Bowbelle. The back-rower later revealed he used the emotions prompted by his elder sister’s death during every game.


6. Ben Cohen

In November 2000, his father Peter Cohen, brother of English World Cup winning football player George Cohen, was fatally injured while protecting an attack victim at the Eternity nightclub in Northampton, which he Cohen managed. He died a month later from head injuries sustained in the assault He then returned to the rugby field and was a member of the England national team that won the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

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