'We must make rugby a safer game to play' - Irwin

Irwin [left] became Ulster's team doctor at the end of his playing days which saw him represent the province as well as Ireland and the British and Irish Lions [Getty Images] Rugby, like all sports, is ever-evolving. With the dawn of professionalism in 1995, the reach, profile and demands of the game have grown. Some things never change and with a contact sport comes risk, yet concerns continue to grow regarding the issue of head injuries.

Advances have been made, with law changes aimed at reducing high challenges, to Head Injury Assessment [HIA] protocols introduced by World Rugby, but the spotlight was shone further in a recent BBC documentary by former England star Ben Youngs . Head injury in rugby is not new, but may have ramifications for sport as a whole with former British and Irish Lion David Irwin agreeing Youngs' documentary is making people "sit up and say that something needs to improve". Irwin - a former Ireland international, Ulster player and 29-year doctor with the province - outlined the reason why a group of former players including Mick Molloy, Trevor Ringland, Ciaran Fitzgerald and Keith Wood have come together with the aim of making rugby "a safer game to play".

"With the changes in the game from the amateur to professional era and players becoming bigger, stronger and faster, it has led to massive collisions and as a result, there are more players getting concussion-type injuries," Irwin told the Ireland Rugby Social podcast. "It's not just straight concussion, but sub-concussive injuries that can put you at risk of degenerative issues down the line like dementia processes. " While scoring tries remains the objective of rugby, how to do so has changed over the years, with multi-phase attacks, power up front and huge hits dominating, although not exclusively as flair helped France to the 2026 Six Nations title.

The introduction of the HIA assessment has "improved things dramatically over the past 15 or 20 years" but Irwin accepts it is not a perfect system, so how do you further lower the risk? Advances have helped lower the risk in scrums and line-outs, but Irwin notes the trend of replacements being dominated by power forwards. "At the moment there is a lack of space, especially in the professional game with defences so organised, so attacking ploys mean you have to go through multiple phases to create space for backs to run into and that leads to big collisions.