Kat Merchant Advocates for Enhanced Player Safety in Women's Rugby
Kat Merchant, former England and Worcester wing, emphasizes the need for women's rugby to adopt safety measures learned from the men's game to better protect players.
Merchant, who was part of England's 2014 World Cup-winning team, retired that same year at age 28 on medical advice after sustaining 11 confirmed concussions.
Now 40 and working as a personal trainer, she is dedicated to educating upcoming players about concussion awareness and safety protocols.
"I just hope we can learn from the men's game and put that support into the women's game," she told Ben Youngs Investigates: How Safe is Rugby.
"I hope lessons are learned. You've got to look after your brain, you only get one of them and you have to be smart with that.
"Rugby is amazing but so is the rest of your life."
Although Merchant is not involved in the current legal action against rugby authorities, including the Rugby Football Union (RFU), she advocates for improved support systems for players both during and after their careers.
"What I want to do is help to educate players so they know what concussions look like and how to still play rugby but be safe," she said.
"I don't have kids but if I did, I would want them to play rugby, if they wanted to. But I'd want it to be in as safe an environment as possible."
'I feel very safe now, I haven't always'
Merchant's rugby career includes 44 tries in 58 appearances for England and contributing to seven consecutive Six Nations Grand Slams before the 2014 World Cup victory.
She began playing rugby at age 14 and experienced her first serious concussion two years later, followed by ten more throughout her career.
"They got significantly worse," she explained.
"In 2013, I got knocked out and had a seizure on the pitch. That was a real moment for me that I was realistically going to have to retire with the amount I'd had.
"I'd had a year of really going to some dark places.
"Light felt so bright, noise felt so loud and I physically sat in my own house cowering at noises - it really was just awful."
World Rugby acknowledged in 2023 that there has been insufficient research on concussion in women's rugby. In response, they have implemented initiatives such as collecting data from smart mouthguards and conducting saliva tests to enhance player safety.
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