The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has a free mind check accessible to any retired elite English participant.
I’d have gone if I felt any signs after my enjoying profession, however I by no means did.
Deep down, I felt that I had been protected and that I used to be going to be OK. As a scrum-half, I performed in a place that concerned the least quantity of contact.
The documentary was the rationale I went for a mind check, however finally it was not simply about me as I need to make it the norm for different former gamers to comply with.
My brother Tom, who I performed with throughout my skilled profession, is an ideal instance of somebody who ought to contemplate being examined, as he performed in the entrance row.
Lying below the MRI scanner and having my mind scanned introduced nerves I used to be not anticipating.
No matter the expansion and funding, there’s all the time a danger in enjoying a contact sport.
I used to be so glad to be calling my household to inform them that my outcomes have been clear.
When you’re dwelling your dream, you don’t are inclined to take a step again from the game you’re keen on to think about how secure it truly is.
Having completed all this, rugby has surpassed my interpretation of how a lot goes on.
The sport actually is pioneering in the best way it’s making an attempt to take care of gamers and do as a lot analysis as attainable.
It has additionally learnt from earlier errors in phrases of lowering contact in coaching and bettering the HIA protocol, which is solely now too onerous to cheat because the phrases are continually altering.
Going ahead, we should be taking a look at issues like lowering the size of the season and additional cuts to the quantity of contact in coaching, and we may also all the time must tread rigorously between participant accountability and safety protocols.
Rugby, I really feel, is in a good safer place than I assumed, however with extra work to do.
