England Prop Leonard Set to Retire After Six Nations

LONDON, 10 March 2004 — England prop Jason Leonard will retire at the end of the Six Nations championship after winning a world record 114 caps to date during a career spanning the amateur and professional eras.

The 35-year-old, who played his first Test against Argentina in 1990, said yesterday he had told England coach Clive Woodward that it was time to quit.

He had been dropped from the bench for Saturday’s Six Nations match against Ireland and is not available for the off-season tour of New Zealand.

“I wanted to play in the Six Nations because of the way I felt and I am available for the next two games,” Leonard wrote in his column in the Evening Standard.

“Being left out of the match squad for the Ireland international was not a factor in my thinking. Retiring from Test rugby has been on my mind for a while because I was away from the family for so long during the World Cup.” Leonard broke Frenchman Philippe Sella’s world record of 111 caps when he came on against France in the World Cup semifinals in Sydney last year. He also came on as a replacement in the winning final against Australia. He began his rugby career at London club Barking, then moved to Saracens before ending up at Harlequins where he launched his international career.

Over the next few seasons, the powerful Leonard became a permanent fixture in a formidable England pack, overcoming a serious neck injury which needed an operation in 1992.

He also epitomized the image of the hard-playing, hard-drinking rugby player to the extent that he named in his autobiography an “All time drinking XV” from his teammates over the years.

Leonard was a popular member of three British and Irish Lions tours, winning five caps, and made the mental and physical adjustments needed when rugby union went professional in 1995.

“I can’t sink 10 pints and get up and train the next morning,” he said. “It’s a different era now. People always see the smiling Jason Leonard and say he’s still the same. But more often than not they’d find me with a mineral water rather than a pint.”