'Out cold': The concussion that 'scared the life' out of Joe Marler

Seasoned England international Joe Marler has revealed that a concussion some years ago scared the life out of him as it initially left him forgetting that he has children. Having opted out of his country’s recent tour to Australia, the 32-year-old loosehead made a guest appearance on talkSPORT Breakfast in the wake of last Sunday’s tragic newspaper revelation that ex-Wales skipper Ryan Jones is suffering from early onset dementia. 

Marler paid tribute to the retired Welsh flanker for his candidness in explaining what he has been going through and it left the England front-rower recalling his own encounters with concussion in rugby - namely a bruising collision with Billy Vunipola that left him sparked out and unable to recall that he had a family.   

Speaking during an interview on the UK sports radio station, Marler said: “First of all, it’s awful for Ryan to be told that and be going through that and it’s kind of struck a chord with me because it’s been quite well spoken about in rugby over the last few years with all of the discoveries that they’ve had with concussions and the relation to it all.

“I have just buried my head in the sand, to be honest, because it scares me. I remember getting knocked out a couple of seasons ago - a big, big blow when I was trying to tackle Billy Vunipola. I was out cold and the next thing I remember was being in the physio room and the kit man came in.

“He was like, ‘Alright mate, is your wife here?’, ‘Yeah, she is’. He said, ‘What about the kids?’ I went ‘Pardon?’ He said, ‘Has she brought the kids? I just paused and broke down and I had no recollection of having kids and it just really scared the life out of me. It all came back together and it happens. Those concussions happen in rugby, it’s a contact sport.

“Since those moments I just ignore it and bury my head in the sand, but the more it comes out and the more apparent it becomes in the sport, the more boys are getting diagnosed with this stuff, it’s sad,” continued Marler, who admitted getting a dressing down over concussion last season from his wife.  

“I got a concussion and I did what I used to do which was to just crack on. Shake it off a bit, take a breather and then crack on. I remember telling Daisy, my wife, a week after and said I was struggling this week and the look I got from her, she was like, ‘No, I’m not having it anymore. If you get a head knock, you follow the right protocols and you tell someone because it’s not about you anymore’.

“She said, ‘Do you want to be here for the kids or not? Do you want to be here for me or not?’ They’re definitely things that I think about a little bit more.”