Matt Hampson was a promising Prop who was 20 when he was injured during a training session with the England U-21 national Rugby Union team. He and his teammates in the forwards were practising scrummaging on a scrum machine when they collapsed. However even though this had happened many times to Matt in his life he immediately realised something was wrong when he could not move any part of his body below his chest. It later turned out that Matt had dislocated his neck and severed his spinal cord. Immediately after the injury Hampson was rushed to Northampton General Hospital. From there he was moved onto the specialist spine unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital where his spine was put back in place. He then spent several months at Stoke Mandeville recovering from his injury. However Matt will never fully recover and will be a paraplegic for the rest of his life. Matt Hampson is now 29 however he does not blame rugby for his injury which was described as a freak accident.
Interview with Matt Hampson about his injury
Improvements that have been made
Since Matt Hampson sustained his injury new rules have been introduced at scrums to make sure they are safer for the players. The new rules which were intorduced in the summer of 2013 mean that fewer scrums now collapse meaning that there is less risk for a players neck when they are scrummaging. Wayne Barnes, a professional referee, has also commented on the positive new rules saying that now there are fewer scrums that have to be reset meaning that players in the scrum are in less danger.
