Rugby concussion: Wales' Henson and Charvis named in lawsuit

Gavin Henson (left) and Colin Charvis are among the almost 300 ex-players suing the sport's authorities over brain injuries

Former Wales stars Gavin Henson and Colin Charvis are among 295 ex-players suing the rugby authorities over brain injuries, it has emerged.

The High Court heard on Friday that an application for the cases to be heard collectively would be made next year.

The application by the athletes' lawyers may be heard in April or May.

It would allow all the lawsuits against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) to be managed together.

Ex-players across Wales, Scotland and England are part of the case, including Wales' Grand Slam-winning captain Ryan Jones and England's Rugby World Cup winner Steve Thompson.

Mark Regan and Phil Vickery, members of England's 2003 World Cup-winning team, and Sean Lamont, who won more than 100 caps for Scotland, were also named as being part of the group.

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The claimants allege the governing bodies failed to put in place reasonable measures to protect their health and safety.

Susan Rodway, representing them, said in court filings the defendants "ought to have known of the likelihood of long-term neurological complications due to cumulative concussive or sub-concussive blows to the head".

This alleged failure is said to have caused disorders such as motor neurone disease, early onset dementia, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.

England's Rugby World Cup winner Steve Thompson is among those suing the sport's authorities

World Rugby, the RFU and WRU said earlier this week they could not comment on the case or contact players as they had not received full details.

But in a joint statement on Friday, they said: "Whilst today's case management hearing was necessarily about legal process, we must not forget about the people and players at the heart of this case."

They added that legal action "prevents us reaching out to support the players involved, many of whom are named publicly for the first time today".

"We want them to know that we care deeply about their struggles, that we are listening and that they are members of the rugby family."

The rugby union case is one of three similar cases brought by law firm Rylands Garth, which also represents former rugby league and football players.