There are lots of stories like Rob Horne's that people don’t hear about – Andy Goode
Australians don’t normally get a warm welcome at Twickenham but Rob Horne is guaranteed one on Saturday and, while he deserves all the support he gets, hopefully it will also raise awareness of the mental, physical and financial help other players need when they’re forced to retire.
He was Northampton’s top try scorer of the season going into that game and was captaining the team for the first time but his life changed forever 13 seconds into the match when he chased the kick-off and went to make a routine tackle, the type he’d made over 100 times that season alone.
He thought he had dislocated his shoulder but all five nerves in his right arm were detached from his spinal cord and he will not regain feeling in his right arm. In an instant, his career and the way he has always known to provide for his family has been taken away from him.
He is adapting to the new realities of his life and doing a Masters degree in commerce as he starts to forge a new career but very few people can comprehend the fate that has befallen him apart from him and his family.
Saints have been great in moving this game to Twickenham and donating the proceeds to support Rob but the whole rugby community has rallied round. I was up at the opening of Matt Hampson’s Get Busy Living Centre the other day and there’s no better example of how the rugby family supports each other in times of hardship.
It’s the most horrible reminder of the brutality of professional sport and players know the risks they’re taking every time they step onto the field but what’s happened to Rob really brings it home to them.
Rob was just coming to the end of his first year of a three-year deal at Saints so it’s great to see that they’re supporting him so well but a one-off injury has not only ended his career five or six years early but it has changed the course of his life completely.
So, hopefully the support he’s getting at the moment continues and it raises awareness of the help other players need when they stop playing as well.
Primarily, that is help with mental health and adjusting to a new way of life but there are real financial implications for players that this incident raises as well as the physical help that’s required.
If you’re injured for 26 weeks cumulatively in a 52-week cycle, a club can terminate your contract there and then. I don’t think there have been too many cases of that happening but it shows the fragility of life as a professional rugby player.
The Rugby Players’ Association (RPA) provides a certain level of insurance with its membership and that’s fantastic but it only covers you to a relatively low level compared to what a lot of players in the Premiership are earning nowadays.
So, as a player you have to take out extra insurance on top of that and that is incredibly expensive. We’re not talking a few hundred quid like car insurance. To cover your own contract will cost tens of thousands of pounds.
And, they won’t cover the injuries or knocks and niggles that you’ve had previously, which doesn’t leave many areas that are covered if you’re a rugby player!
The RPA do a brilliant job with what they do and the cover players get through them is far and above what they’d get if they tried to put their membership fee towards it but it isn’t enough for a lot of players.
I did it myself in my early thirties and for £100,000 worth of cover I was getting quotes of over £10,000 per year without covering my knee, which was f***ed.
I had degenerative cartilage issues purely because of rugby but that wasn’t covered because it was a pre-existing injury so I’ve had to have several major operations on it since retiring and I’ve had to do it all off my own back.
I’ve had to have a clear-out of my knee, a major operation on my knee and another operation on my ankle as well in the past year or so.
You can have all these operations through the club and their top level medical support and connections when you’re a player but as soon as you retire, that’s gone.
I had a long career and was very lucky and I know that and all of the other ex-players I know have medical issues as a result of playing rugby but they wouldn’t change their careers so we know it’s a part of being a professional rugby player.
I look back on my career and one of my favourite ever games was Wasps’ first game at the Ricoh Arena against London Irish. Personally, it was a great game for me and my family, being from Coventry and breaking the record for most points in a game but it’s tinged with sadness.
Within that game, Chris Bell, who was a quality club player and played for Sale, Leeds, Harlequins and Wasps, damaged the nerves in his shoulder. He never played rugby again and retired a few months later and that was from an innocuous tackle like the one Rob Horne made in April.
He didn’t sever the nerves to the extent that he suffered paralysis but it wasn’t far off and there are lots of stories that people don’t hear about so if the high-profile nature of this game for Rob can raise awareness of the help that others need as well, that’d be a real bonus.
I remember being a 19-year-old kid at training at Leicester and the older boys telling me that I’ll have done well if I’m still in the game at 30 and that was in 1999. That statement rings even more true now and it’s becoming a lot more common for players to retire in their mid-twenties.
If you run into a brick wall at two miles per hour, there won’t be that much damage but there will be a lot more when you increase that speed and there will be more of these impact injuries as the physicality, speed and intensity of the game and the players increases.
Sam Jones is another prime example. He was at Wasps but goes on international duty and snaps his leg while doing some two versus one wrestling. He’s gone from being in the England squad and probably being set to win his first cap in the autumn internationals to never playing rugby again.
I don’t know how much support he’s received from the RFU as a result but that’s the issue that this game at Twickenham in aid of Rob Horne should bring to the forefront of people’s minds.
It’s a chance to reflect on how precious a rugby career is and how it can be taken away in an instant and to consider whether the game is doing enough in general to help players when they’re forced to stop playing because it’s mental support that’s needed as well as physical and financial assistance.
Continue reading below…
Rob will be delivering the match ball on Saturday and it’s going to be an emotionally charged atmosphere and that could give Northampton an edge. You saw the impact that Doddie Weir delivering the match ball had last autumn when Scotland nearly beat the All Blacks.
However, Leicester will be talking about harnessing the emotion in the stadium and making it work in their favour. They’ll also pay their respect to Rob by playing as hard as they possibly can and trying to get the victory because he was a fierce competitor and that’s the right way to respect him.
It’s amazing that Rob is getting this support and it’ll be a great occasion on Saturday but there’s no doubt that there will be other players thinking that they didn’t get the support they’d hoped for from their club when they got injured and had to end their careers.
Rob’s injury hasn’t prompted calls to change the game but it should make people consider whether unions, clubs and other stakeholders are doing enough, on top of what the RPA do, to help players or whether more can be done.
Comments on RugbyPass
“But with an exceptional pass accuracy rating “ Which apart from Roigard is not a feature of any of the other 9s in NZ. Kind of basic for a Black 9 dont.you. think? Yet we keep seeing FC and TJ being rated ahead of him? Weird if it’s seen as vital to get our backline beating in your face defences.
1 Go to commentsThanks BeeMc! Looks like many teams need extra time to settle from the quadrennial northern migration. I think generally the quality of the Rugby has held up. Fiji has been fantastic and fun to watch
13 Go to commentsLets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
11 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
11 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
16 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to comments