Aussie Sevens star forced to retire
NEWS: Australia Sevens captain James Stannard announced his retirement after a brutal assault left him with a fractured skull.
The Sevens veteran was planning to retire at the end of this season but was forced to hang up his boots a month early after the one-punch attack in March.
The 34-year-old, who miss the Commonwealth Games on home soil in the Gold Coast, had been targeting a return for the Sevens World Cup in San Francisco which takes place next month.
“I was doing a bit of training, trying to get back for World Cup and the boys were away at the time and I started doing a bit of contact and upping the ante and just started getting a bit light-headed and a few headaches,” Stannard said.
“I just thought at that time if I can’t get through this sort of training, there’s no way in hell I’m going to get through a tournament and the last thing I want to do is let those lads down.
“It’s a pretty easy decision when it’s your health.
“It is hard to accept that’s the last time you’ll slip that jersey on, which I think most players go through, most professional athletes go through, so I think it was an easy decision when it came down to my health that, that was it,”
@rugbycomau
