Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

There was a time they played without helmets and

Between 1965 and 1969, more than 100 players at all levels died of brain injuries, an average of about 20 per year—about the same number as died in 1905, but from brain injuries alone.

https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/may-2012/a-brief-history-of-football-head-injuries-and-a-look-towards-the-future/

So it's just a stupid sport to begin with whether there is padding or not due to the whole bashing into each other from opposite ends every single play.

Websearch "rugby + CTE".

Rugby is a full contact sport and has the exact same concerns that American football, fighting, and hockey have. There is no magic shield that protects rugby players from the consequences of repeat impacts to the head.

Researchers are looking into high volume, low impact hits (rugby and American football) contributing to CTE just as much as lower volume, high impact hits (American football). Researchers are even looking at whether impact is necessary, even rapid changes in acceleration (hit elsewhere in the body causing ones brain to slosh around in the skull) piles up damage over the course of a sports career.

Plenty of good hearted sledging to be thrown about various sports. Buying the propaganda that rugby isn't a dangerous sport ain't it.

How much safer can ya get??

Like in Monster Hunter: hit, don't get hit.