Rugby leads the way on safety, says Jones

England coach Eddie Jones believes modern rugby is safe for players and has adjusted sufficiently amid the growing concerns about concussion in the game.

The Australian was reacting to revelations this week of former players being diagnosed with early signs of dementia and blaming repeated head knocks.

Among the group is England’s World Cup-winning hooker Steve Thompson, who played in every match at the 2003 tournament in Australia, but he’s said: ‘‘I can’t remember any of those games. It’s frightening.’’

The group is understood to be seeking millions of pounds in damages. They are blaming rugby’s authorities for negligence, claiming the sport has left them with permanent brain damage.

Jones, whose England side won the Autumn Nations Cup last weekend, admitted the sport had previously failed to consider players’

Eddie Jones

welfare ‘‘as well as we should’’, but he said rugby is now leading the way.

‘‘Firstly it is very sad news but if there is a positive about it – and there is never a positive about people being sick or losing part of their function – it is that the game has adjusted to it,’’ Jones said in an interview with the How To Academy.

‘‘I don’t think the game at the moment is unsafe. If you look at most sports back then it was unsafe.

‘‘Now we have learned from that and I think rugby at the moment is leading the way in terms of player safety. Can wemake it safer? Can we make it better for the players? We have just to keep doing it.’’

Rugby has become an increasingly brutal game in the modern era, demanding more of players physically, and teams are adopting power games to win the collision battle.

Jones also spoke with the How To Academy about the physical toll on players.

‘‘What we try to do is make sure the training is appropriate for the game. We try to make sure they have every opportunity to recover properly,’’ he said.

‘‘At the end of the day, the players make a choice to play the game. No one is forcing them.

‘‘We know there are demands on the body because it is a physically demanding game.

‘‘We have made really good progress in making the game safe and the players have the choice about whether to play or not.’’

‘‘We have made really good progress in making the game safe.’’