World Rugby’s cynical deflection over brain injuries is an insult to the players | Michael Aylwin

Governing body’s posturing over the cause of early onset dementia among ex-players is extraordinarily insensitive

So it’s not the brain injuries after all. Those rugby players diagnosed with dementia in their early 40s, steadily growing in number, must be comforted to learn that the repetitive brain trauma they suffered in their playing careers is but one of 12 modifiable risk factors that might have contributed to their conditions.

This is the latest angle World Rugby has come up with, as the posturing continues in advance of impending lawsuits. Here we are, nearly a year since rugby union was rocked by the news that eight of its former players were suing the sport after their diagnoses of dementia, with scores more of them – now hundreds – waiting in the wings with further symptoms. And World Rugby continues to deflect.