Former France hooker Marc Dal Maso reveals he has Parkinson’s disease

Marc Dal Maso, who was in charge of Japan’s scrum during Eddie Jones’s time there, has revealed he has Parkinson’s disease and believes the blows he received during his career as a hooker are the cause.

Dal Maso, who played for France 33 times, will not be part of Jones’s England regime as he resumes a consultancy role with the Highlanders in Otago in the new year. He said the illness was diagnosed in 2012 but he did not tell anyone, including Jones, until now.

“The problems started when I was 30 and still playing,” said Dal Maso, who is 48, in an interview with a French newspaper. “I was not feeling well, tired all the time, and my sister, who works in medicine, suggested I had tests. A scan revealed Parkinson’s disease and I am on medication morning, noon and night.

“I do not have this through chance. Let’s just say that there are sports that ‘help’ illnesses like this and rugby is one of them. I am not sure exactly how it happened but I can remember suffering two serious hits in my career, one when I was playing in a friendly against Wales before the 1999 World Cup and was smashed in a ruck and another in my first appearance for Agen when I was taken out from behind against Perpignan. Today, I am very afraid of what effect concussion will have on players.”

Dal Maso said he had been assured by doctors that as long as he took his medication he would be able to carry on coaching. “I had offers to coach Toulon and Racing Métro, but I feared they would say my career was over if I told them about my Parkinson’s and Japan gave me the chance to go away and hide.

“I did not tell Eddie when he asked me to become Japan’s scrum coach and working there gave me confidence. By speaking now, I hope I can get a message across.”

The authorities in Cape Town are investigating an allegation of racial abuse during the recent World Sevens series tournament in Cape Town. A spectator said he heard a man sitting near him call a player a “baboon” and that when he confronted him, he was beaten up. Video footage is being scrutinised in the hunt for the culprit who left the stadium before the police arrived.

(Guardian Service)