Anyone who thought Gavin Henson, perma-tanned Welsh rugby three-quarter and one-time escort of Charlotte Church, was just an overhyped glamour boy should think again. He has revealed himself as one of more than 200 former players, including several Test players, involved in legal action against World Rugby and the English and Welsh unions, claiming levels of brain damage caused by the game, and seeking damages.

There is a common conception that head injuries – and their accompanying mental problems – are the preserve of forwards the size of Chelsea tractors who see the game as a form of stock-car racing. But Henson joining the ranks of those citing the onset of brain damage so soon after Owen Farrell stepped down as England captain, blaming social media and fans’ behaviour, reinforces the fact that the game’s problems run right through a team, from Nos 1 to 15. Another Wales back, the often-concussed George North, was no outlier.

There is a common conception that head injuries are the preserve of forwards the size of Chelsea tractors

Just because Henson bought his tan over the counter and used Dax Wave and Groom to make his hair stand on end in the heat of battle doesn’t take away from the fact that he was as tough as a tugboat and not afraid to smash an opponent. A glance at the highlights of Wales’s epic 11-9 victory over England in 2005 shows how good a player he was – and what a ferocious tackler, too. He takes out England’s Mathew Tait with two extraordinary hits, both head first into Tait’s midriff and both wholly legal, which could have knocked down a terraced house.

What is clear is that a 40-ton truck is heading rugby’s way. If hundreds of players succeed in their claims for loss of earnings, pain and damages, no contingency fund could cover the costs. Who will pay the players? Maintain the grounds? The game has to reform itself. The players, from schoolboy level upwards, are bigger, fitter and stronger than ever before. Efforts are being made to enforce rules about tackle height, but Henson’s tackles show that an awful lot of damage can be done below head height as well. For all the warm talk about the ‘rugby family’, the authorities don’t seem very keen to take action to make the game safer and save many of the current generation of players from life-changing disabilities.

Farrell has been supported by Kyle Sinckler, who has talked openly about the pressures of playing professional rugby. It remains to be seen what the effect of the withdrawal of England’s leading points scorer will be. Will George Ford or Marcus Smith start at fly-half? Smith put in a dazzling performance in Harlequins’ thrashing of league leaders Sale last weekend, but Ford had little good possession from the battered Sale pack.

So now we know: Erling Haaland, far from being a pyjama-clad metro-sexual exchanging light bantz and tapas recipes with Jack Grealish, is in fact a fully fledged Viking psycho, howling with rage at the referee because he hadn’t played advantage in a tight City game against Spurs, then telling opponents to ‘Eff off’ and squaring up to the Spurs full-back. Not a great look, but what do we want when refs know they have made a massive howler? Should they sink to their knees, hide their heads in their shirts and look up to the skies in sorrow? At least then Haaland would have nowhere to direct his crazed fury.

Chef supreme and football owner Delia Smith has managed to upset the whole Norwich crowd this time. The woman whose white-wine-fuelled cry of ‘Let’s be ’avin’ you’ once made her a legend has now called a fifth of Norwich supporters ‘whingers’. All good fun, but the owners should be careful. It’s the fans who decide in the end.