The ravages of rugby have been laid out in a new British study that found former internationals were up to 15 times more likely to develop motor neurone disease than the general population.

The study of 412 male ex-players, largely from the amateur era, were compared with that of the general public.

The risk of any neurodegenerative disease was 2.5 times higher than non-rugby players.

Dr Helen Murray of the University of Auckland's Centre For Brain Research spoke to D'Arcy Waldegrave on Sportstalk about what this means.

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