Hobson initially was not aware of the lawsuit until he spoke to a solicitor and went and had tests in 2021.

Hobson said “a lot of the damage was all done” by the time he received his diagnosis, following his separation from his former partner.

“To get diagnosed after was a bit of a relief because you kind of know it wasn’t just you being an idiot, there was an actual reason to it,” Hobson said.

“And then you can work towards a common goal, to keep your health and wellbeing.”

He added: “I’m not going to live in the past. [I will] keep moving forward and live it as far as I can with my boys.”

Hobson believes his era in rugby was “quite brutal” and says that training was relentless.

Three years ago, when Hobson confirmed he was joining the lawsuit, he said a notebook “would not be thick enough to list all the injuries I had”.