Cudmore court case may send ‘shockwaves’ through rugby
A LANDMARK rugby legal case set to conclude at a French court hearing could send ‘shockwaves’ around the game and push clubs close to ‘financial collapse’, a sports lawyer has told Sportsmail. Ex-Canada captain Jamie Cudmore has brought a civil case against former club Clermont Auvergne, who he claims exposed him to potential serious injury by allowing him to play on with a concussion. In January 2019, a court-appointed neurologist found the club were responsible for the harm Cudmore suffered. The case has reached its final stages. ‘You can’t definitely say that success for Cudmore is going to see a flood of claims being brought (because France has a different jurisdiction),’ said Richard Cramer, senior partner at Front Row legal. ‘But it will send shockwaves around the game. I suspect all clubs will want to make sure that if claims are brought, there is an insurance policy to cover it otherwise, at a very difficult time during the pandemic, clubs could be on the verge of financial collapse if they are faced with claims running to hundreds of thousands of pounds.’ Cudmore’s claim dates back to 2015 when he played on despite suffering two suspected concussions in the Champions Cup final against Toulon at Twickenham — two weeks after also continuing following another blow to the head in the semi-final against Saracens. The 42-year-old accuses club doctors of exposing him to the potentially fatal second-impact syndrome by failing to implement proper concussion protocols. He said: ‘The club put my life in danger and the process is now in front of the courts.’ Cudmore and ex-England flanker James Haskell are two of the founders of lobby group, Progressive Rugby, who launched this week and have written to World Rugby urging a change of rules to improve player safety.