Marcus Horan believes the 'shake it off' mentality is gone from rugby and has welcomed a new initiative aimed at the welfare of retired players.
Earlier today, World Rugby and Rugby Players Ireland launched the Brain Health Service to support former professionals who have concerns about their brain health.
It includes an awareness and education component, an online questionnaire and tele-health delivered cognitive assessment with a trained brain health practitioner.
This service assesses players for any brain health warning signs, provide advice on managing risk factors and signpost anyone in need of specialist care.
Former prop Horan won 67 Ireland caps and played 225 times for Munster between 1999 and 2013.
He believes that there is much more awareness in the game now around head injuries and that the governing bodies have become more proactive.
"The advancement in how we deal with concussion now is completely different and really positive.
"Even people watching the game, when they see an incident, they can identify when something should be done.
"Even hearing commentators saying certain players should be leaving the field.
"This is around education and awareness but mostly about care for our past players.
"Our tagline is ‘our guys are members for life’ and some of these concerns come from players that have worries, even myself, we all have these worries about our brain health and making sure we keep an eye on it.
"This service will do that, it’s going to help guys, if they have any worries at all, to go and get an assessment.
"It incorporates lifestyle and how you look after yourself and just shining a light on things that sometimes guys don’t think about.
"For them to have a baseline and in a couple of years’ time, retest and see how you are doing and if there are any changes there you can act on it."
Horan also believes that rugby is not losing its edge as the focus narrows on player safety.
"It is a physical sport and there’s a lot of incidents where they talk about rugby collisions or accidental collisions and those things are very unfortunate," added the 46-year-old, a 2009 Grand Slam winner.
"I don’t think the edge is taken off the game at all.
"If you look at some of the fair contacts that are there, they are as physical or more physical than back in the day ‘cos guys are bigger and stronger and faster.
"That’s all the more reasons that we have these safety precautions are taken and we’re very observant of things that are going on on the pitch.
"Players are part of that and the observers are part of that.
"If you look at any of the games at the weekend, that the edge is taken off. All the players are giving as good as they get and keeping it entertaining as well as keeping it safe."
World Rugby Chief Medical Officer Prof Éanna Falvey said: "Former players read the news and hear the stories about some of their peers who are struggling. There is no doubt that these stories generate a lot of anxiety, nervousness and worry.
"We’re launching the Brain Health Service in Ireland today and we’ll be expanding quickly to countries around the world.
"The Brain Health Services gives any worried player a place to go which can put their minds at ease or if required, put them in touch with medical experts who can further investigate any warning signs.
"Player welfare is World Rugby’s number one priority and that applies equally to current and former players."
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