Former World Cup winner, Steve Thompson, has spoken of at times feeling like ‘a bit of meat’ during his professional career and how, if he could go back, he would not play rugby - nor would he like to see his children pick up the sport.
Now, at the age of 42, Thompson has been diagnosed with early onset dementia and probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease, and says he can no longer remember winning the World Cup, along with forgetting directions, which bits of a book he’s read and what TV shows he’s watched.
Thompson, who is part of a potentially landmark legal action against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union in England and the Welsh Rugby Union, says he 'does not want to kill the game' he still loves, but wants to see the sport transformed to protect players.
