Former England and British Lion Will Greenwood says Ryan Jones' dementia diagnosis at the age of just 41 has "saddened me to my core".
Jones revealed the news in an interview with a national newspaper on Saturday, saying doctors told him he was one of one of the worst cases the specialists had seen.
The response from the rugby public has been one of shock and sympathy for a man who captained his country on 33 occasions, earning 75 caps in total.
READ MORE: Former Wales rugby captain Ryan Jones diagnosed with dementia at 41
Greenwood, now a pundit for Sky Sports, says he is sending his best wishes to Jones and his family and urged rugby chiefs to continue to make the game as safe as possible for the next generation.
"First of all, I am sending just the most amount of love to one of the great blokes on the planet Ryan Jones," he told Sky Sports.
"I mean it saddens me to my core and we've had enough warning shots and its needs continued efforts from the powers that be to make sure that they'll be in as safe a place as possible. We must do absolutely everything we can when we educate kids in tackles and the contact area that we educate them correctly.
"At times there has been arguments that we have had too many yellow cards, too many red cards - that's what needs to happen to make sure we start to tackle low, and then doctors are immediately removing players from the field of play, to make sure that players are fine to continue. They have just changed the laws so that any sort of head contact means 12 days off.
"It is a sport that is contact ridden and will continue to deliver injuries and head injury. If we can educate the kids enough to make sure that when they get to 18 or 19 they're as healthy as they possibly can be and then have their own personal viewpoint on whether they want to take place take part in a wonderful game that it is, knowing the potential injuries just as boxers do, just as jockeys, just as motor racing drivers do.
"It's always sad when any sport has these sorts of stories, but I do feel where we once lived in the dark ages, we are now in an enlightened sport, and we are doing everything we can to make sure it's as safe as possible."
Welsh Labour MP and former rugby international Tonia Antoniazzi spoke to BBC Wales and said she feared there would be more cases like Jones' situation.
Ms Antoniazzi said: "We love rugby, Welsh people love rugby, we're not going to stop playing rugby. But we've got to seriously look at how we play the game moving forward."
"When you put on that red jersey, when you put on any jersey to play for your team, you do not want to leave the pitch," she added.
"It's important that players also understand that any knock to the head that they take means that they need to come off and we adhere to all the protocols that are in place.
"We don't want to have a future of international rugby players coming out with news like Ryan has this week because it's heart-breaking."
Noel Mooney, chief executive of the Football Association of Wales (FAW), tweeted his support to the former Ospreys man, saying: "Ryan is a good guy with a fabulous career in sport and my thoughts and all @FAWales are with him."
The official Ospreys Supporters' Club said online: "Hugely saddened to read this about former Ospreys and Wales captain and B&I Lion, Ryan Jones. So many wonderful memories of his playing days, but nothing, just nothing is worth this. Sending love and very best wishes to Ryan and his family from all at OSC."
Gareth Evans, ex-Newport RFC, Wales and British and Irish Lions back from the 1970s, tweeted his best wishes too: "Awful news. Sending very best wishes. The game has become brutal, obsessed with size, and not the game many fell in love with."
On Sunday a statement from campaign group Progressive Rugby called for players to start missing games in order to protect them from long-term brain injuries. You can read the statement in full here.
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