Lance Hohaia and Eamonn McManus in increasingly angry war of words

Hohaia said it was “embarrassing” that McManus “would try to draw a correlation between my mental state and my university marks”.

He added: “I was provided with an outstanding tutor that I worked with weekly to help me with my assignments and did not sit the final exam due to my mental state.

“I was awarded an aggregated score on my final exam based on my previous assignments out of compassion, which allowed me to pass.”

McManus also criticised Hohaia for damaging the reputation of the club’s “highly reputable and leading medical and rugby staff”.

However, Hohaia has told BBC Sport that at “no point in time” has he “publicly criticised the highly regarded medical staff at Saints”.

“The lack of support that I felt was from management and was in reference specifically to how my retirement and the subsequent time after was handled, not how I was treated after the Grand Final incident,” he said.

“Eamonn has taken my wider statement about the club not supporting me as an attack against the entire club and the team, which is simply not the case.”

By giving an interview about his retirement, Hohaia said his intention had been to raise concerns over the ways concussions are “recognised, measured, analysed, tracked and treated”.

He added: “At the moment, there is a one-size-fits-all approach, which does not, in my opinion, suffice.

“It is a shame that this message has been lost in the tirade from Saints.”