Irish players pressured to play injured.

40 per cent of Ireland's professional rugby players have felt pressurised into playing while injured according to a survey commissioned by the Irish Rugby Union Players Association (IRUPA).

In the independently conducted survey - in which 75 per cent of the 150 or so IRUPA members on international, provincial or development contracts responded -an alarmingly high number said they had been put under pressure to play while injured or concussed by coaching and medical staff.

The survey is sure to make waves in Ireland as it comes on the heals of revelations about playing while injured by former Leinster hookers John Fogarty and Bernard Jackman, who were both forced into retirement.

Nearly a quarter of the players expressed unhappiness with a surgeon or specialist they had been referred to, with the added feeling that the leading players were given preferential treatment. Although a degree of dissatisfaction was to be expected, some of the responses alarmed the IRUPA chief executive Niall Woods.

"The most striking area where there were problems, which I had been receiving calls on anecdotally throughout last season was the medical area, and the drop in standard of care that the players felt there had been," the former Ireland international told The Irish Times

"What I had been hearing anecdotally from players calling me was that players were getting pressured to play while injured. Whilst on the one hand players will always play with some form of injury, it was more [a case of] serious injury, and the most worrying part was who was responsible for the pressure being put on them to play." The survey found that most of the pressure being applied came from coaches, but Woods is understandably worried that 28 per cent of players found the pressure came from the medical team.

"That says to us that the primary care of the player, in this case the patient, wasn't being catered for," he said.

"So the alarm bells were ringing when we were looking at those stats."

Of the players surveyed, 19.1 per cent said they had been pressurised to stay on the field despite suffering from concussion.

"When you get a concussion you don't know where you are, which is why I think the onus should be on an independent medical person on the pitch, not the team doctor, so that there is no undue pressure coming from coaches.

"You go back to Bloodgate at Harlequins," says Woods, citing the case of Tom Williams feigning injury with a blood capsule.

"The doctor and the physio were bullied by the coach, and probably in hindsight it was a good thing that happened, especially as it didn't involve a bad injury.

"I've seen the pressures myself from playing, and it's nine years since I played, and I hear it on a regular basis in Ireland and the UK.

"There was also a real macho thing with one coach, who simply didn't want any player in the physio's room. That it was a sign of weakness, so you felt like you should be out training even with injuries, and that's just the way the sport is. In American Football there's probably the same attitude, and maybe 10 times worse."