The High Court has heard arguments that hundreds of claims in rugby's multi-million-pound concussion legal action should be dismissed, after lawyers for the sport's governing bodies alleged breaches of a 2024 disclosure order relating to neurological testing documents. World Rugby, the Welsh Rugby Union, Rugby Football Union and Rugby Football League all deny failing in their duty of care towards players who say they were not adequately protected from repeated head impacts. The case matters because it could determine whether hundreds of former players, including several World Cup winners, are able to pursue their claims at all, and it carries wider implications for how contact sports manage brain injury risk in future.

Lawyers for the governing bodies argued non-compliance meant 132 claims against the rugby league bodies and 378 against the rugby union bodies should be struck out, with one KC calling it a "measure of last resort" while insisting compliance had still not been achieved. Lawyers for the players countered that the breaches were minor given the scale of the litigation and that dismissal would be an "extreme response" given the case's public importance. Separately, solicitor Richard Boardman told the court he intends to stop representing the claimants, prompting the judge to voice frustration at the pace of proceedings, which began in 2020 and involve high-profile former internationals such as Steve Thompson, Mark Regan, Phil Vickery, Gavin Henson and Alix Popham. The hearing continues on Thursday.