England and Sale Sharks flanker Tom Curry is a doubt for the start of the 2022/23 Premiership season after suffering a third concussion in six months against the Wallabies last weekend.
The flanker controversially played on until half-time, having taken a blow to the head in the 14th minute when attempting to tackle
Announcing Curry’s return home, the Rugby Football Union said: “It has been agreed that in the interest of player welfare and recovery, he will take no further part in the tour and return home for continuing assessment and ongoing management.
“He has travelled to Brisbane with the squad and will fly to England later this week.”
The decision to stand Curry down from the rest of tour comes after he also suffered a concussion earlier in the season playing for England against Wales in the Six Nations.
Reports now suggest Curry may miss the start of the new season and will ‘not be rushing back’ in order to fully recover.
Below, we look at five rugby stars who were forced to step down, considered retirement or hung up their boots altogether due to concussion in 2021/22.
#1. Beauden Barrett (New Zealand) – Returned after lay-off
The All Blacks, who has twice been named world player of the year, was sidelined after taking a blow to the face during an attempted tackle on Ireland’s Andrew Conway back in November.
The incident resulted in a nasty concussion, and the symptoms were so severe that the 30-year-old admits he considered hanging up his boots.
He told French publication, XV Mondial : “For two weeks, things have been much better. But throughout the off-season, I had migraines, 80 to 90 per cent of the time. Today, it tends to fade, they have become rarer.
“I will gradually resume contact training, I hope to play again in three weeks against the Chiefs. I thought it might be the end of my career. When you feel sluggish 99 per cent of the day, trying several ways to get better, but nothing works, you assume the worst.
“And then you hear about teammates who have to end their careers because of concussions, it’s more and more frequent. I thought it was my turn.
“You learn to get used to small headaches, a bit like a mild hangover. It’s very frustrating because when you wake up, in principle, you should feel refreshed and ready.”