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Oxford rugby players pledge to donate brains

By PA
Oxford's Andrew Durutalo (left) is tackled by Cambridge's Zac Bischoff during the men's varsity match at Mattioli Woods Welford Road Stadium last year (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)

The whole Oxford University men’s rugby team have pledged to donate their brains to the Concussion Legacy Project ahead of Saturday’s Varsity Match with Cambridge.

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This weekend’s meeting at Twickenham marks the 150th anniversary of the annual fixture and Oxford have followed the lead of England World Cup winner Steve Thompson.

Thompson pledged to donate his brain to the Concussion Legacy Project in September when the brain bank was formed through a partnership between Concussion Legacy Foundation UK and the Jeff Astle Foundation.

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      PFA bosses Maheta Molango and John Mousinho also signed up to donate their brains to help the organisation with research on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and other consequences of brain trauma in contact sport.

      The Oxford men’s team have now become the latest sporting athletes to pledge their brains to the Concussion Legacy Project to help try to stop the growing number of former rugby players becoming diagnosed with dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.

      Dr Adam White, executive director of the Concussion Legacy Foundation UK, said: “We have a goal of finding a cure for CTE by 2040 and to do that we need to accelerate the research by looking at more brains now.

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      “Donating your brain is a tremendous gift and we hope the leadership shown by Nick Civetta, Louis Jackson and the rest of the Blues varsity team will inspire others to come forward and participate in both brain bank and clinical research. If the athletes of today participate in research, we can have a cure for CTE within their lifetime.”

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      EllenMoody 4 hours ago
      Great moments in Lions tour history – JPR’s drop goal and the All Blacks' brutal revenge

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      JWH 5 hours ago
      'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

      Do you hear yourself? Do you have any concept of world view? Have you tried looking into why people call Ireland ‘arrogant’? Obviously not.


      We started calling you arrogant when you called our captain a ‘shit Richie McCaw’. In New Zealand. On our turf. Don’t think that kind of behaviour really calls for respect, does it.


      NZ don’t really talk ourselves up, if anything the rugby does it for us. No kiwi goes in the media and says: ‘We are gonna win the RWC’. However, I have found many instance of IRISH media saying that the Irish should win, without a doubt. THAT is disrespectful.


      The All Blacks have played good rugby, even some of the best rugby ever, at many points in history, but I don’t think you could find a single instance of one of those players, or the NZ media, saying that they should whitewash their opponents. Ever.


      Now, onto your analysis. Ireland DID choke the QF. They beat the champions, they were ranked first coming into it, a lot of players at the peaks of their powers. Its hard to say that they didn’t choke. Obviously, their preparation was just not as good as NZ, and thats all there really is to it.


      If Ireland had repsected that ABs team and that QF more, maybe they would’ve prepared properly for it and won. But they didn’t.


      Maybe if Ireland had won their QF last RWC, they wouldn’t have to be in the same pool as SA and Scotland. I mean, its called a draw for a reason. NZ got third last RWC, so of course they should get a reasonable pool, and they were ranked pretty highly too. If you want to talk about easy pools, look no further than Pool 3 with England, Australia, Fiji, and Georgia I think?


      Now, obviously you don’t remember how that QF ended, so I’ll go ahead and rectify that. Ireland reclaimed the ball off kickoff and marched for 20ish phases into the opposition half. Savea then won a turnover, but the referee refused to give it, so play went on. Finally, at the NZ 22, after not giving up a single penatly in 25 phases of hard defense, Sam Whitelock, the most capped All Black of all time, wins the game with an incredible steal.


      Now, NZ players having a go at Ireland. Do you cry when you get hit after making the first swing? We all know Sexton is a prick on the field, its just the truth. And Ioane never backs down from a clash, so he thought he should humble a player who has never won an international knockout game who thought he was all that. Don’t really see the issue, its poetic justice really.

      83 Go to comments
      LONG READ
      LONG READ 'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.' 'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'
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