When I pick out my England caps, it's as though they're someone else's ... but I'll keep fighting to make rugby safer

Good times: but Steve Thompson can’t remember winning the 2003 World Cup

- Nick Purewal Rugby Correspondent

ALL that Steve Thompson wants for Christmas is a quiet few days with his family and to get his hands on the retro Commodore 64 computer games console coming his way.

Two years ago, England's Rugby World Cup-winning hooker had a torrid festive time. The Thompson family were only just working out how to navigate his early onset dementia, and the result was a "complete nightmare".

Last year, the Thompsons had a cracker of a Christmas and, this time, Thompson, his wife Steph and their four children will open presents, eat buffet food and stay in their onesies.

The former Northampton and England star will have a vital nap in the afternoon, and only on Boxing Day will the family sit down to their traditional Christmas lunch.

Thompson cannot remember anything about winning the World Cup with England in 2003, but he will get the shivers when meeting up with his East Midlands Under-19s teammates.

Thoughts of the Commodore 64 have triggered a sense of nostalgia, while the longer the family live with Thompson's dementia, the more they know how to handle it.

"I don't get goosebumps with the World Cup, but when I meet up with my old mates and we talk about the East Midlands Under-19s, which I can remember, I get them. I get all excited about that," Thompson told Standard Sport.