A YOUNG rugby player who collapsed while watching a match at Worcester’s Sixways Stadium died of natural causes, a coroner has ruled.

Dominic Cullen, of Matson Rugby Club in Gloucester, was in Worcester on Sunday, May 6, to watch his club’s under-17s play in the National U17 Championship.

The 24-year-old, of The Green, Churchdown, Gloucester, had played earlier in the day in the North Gloucester Combination Cup.

As previously reported in the Worcester News, he collapsed in a toilet block at Sixways Stadium at 5.20pm and attempts were made to revive him before he was taken to Worcestershire Royal Hospital where he died.

During a 15-minute hearing at Worcestershire Coroner’s Court in Stourport on Thursday, coroner Geraint Williams ruled he died from coronary artery thrombosis and myocardial infarction - a heart attack, with premature coronary artery atherosclerosis - hardening of the arteries - contributing to his death.