Former All Blacks prop Neemia Tialata has joined the player movement building a case for negligence by rugby administrators over head injuries.
Player concern over historical concussion cases has peaked in recent weeks, with former England hooker Steve Thompson admitting he could not remember winning the 2003 World Cup.
Others have stepped forward to compile a case against rugby administrators - primarily World Rugby, the English Rugby Football Union and Welsh Rugby Union - for "failure to protect [them] from the risks caused by concussions".
London law firm Rylands Law is representing more than 100 players, many showing symptoms of neurological damage.
Tialata, 38, who played 43 tests for New Zealand between 2005-10, has now thrown his weight behind that cause.
"I have decided to join the claim of my fellow players to encourage others to come forward and to give them the support they need," he says.
"I hold myself out to help the community so that the players of the future don't suffer some of the things that my generation are now suffering.
"I hope and pray that others will feel able to join me in this action. Together we are strong."
Representing Tialata, lawyer Tim Castle admires his client's courage in this matter.
"He's determined to do everything he can to provide support for those players of the past, those of the present and of course those of the future," he has told Newshub.
"My role is to support, so far, Neemia, but others as they may wish... to encourage the game internationally to collaborate to see what further investigations can be made... so protection for players and support for them is forthcoming.
"I would like to think that this is not something that has to be dealt with at arm's length, with people standing at a distance - shades of the gunfight at OK Corral. We don't want to do that - this is a time for collaborating and cooperating in the best interest of the players."
Playing for Wellington, Tialata was infamously knocked unconscious by a punch against Hawke's Bay in 2007 and came to on the reserve's bench, after he was subbed off.
