‘I can’t remember most rugby games I played in’

Former rugby union player Alix Popham has said jerseys and medals are the only reminders he has of playing in big matches he has “no recollection of”.

The ex-Wales flanker, who had a 14-year professional career, was diagnosed with early onset dementia at the age of 40.

He told Newsnight he believed this diagnosis was due to head injuries he had sustained during his rugby career.

“My neurologist, when he diagnosed me, they worked out I had over 100,000 sub-concussive hits in my brain,” he said.

Popham described sub-concussive hits as any contact “when your brain rattles around inside against your skull on every hit”, including hits…