Today

15:10

Tomorrow

08:30

Tomorrow

10:10

Tomorrow

10:30

Tomorrow

10:30

Tomorrow

10:30

Tomorrow

10:30

Tomorrow

12:40

Tomorrow

15:05

Tomorrow

15:10

Sunday

08:40

Sunday

10:00

Sunday

11:10

Sunday

15:05

11-cap Wales back row James King has retired with immediate effect

By Online Editors

02 Feb 2021

(Photo by Kevin Barnes/CameraSport via Getty Images )

Wales and Ospreys back rower James King has announced his retirement from professional rugby with immediate effect. Dogged by a shoulder injury, he has taken the decision to retire on medical advice at the age of 30.

Capped eleven times by Wales, he made his Ospreys debut in 2009 and is sixth on the all-time appearance list for the franchise, playing on 203 occasions and scoring seven tries.

“When trying to come back from the shoulder injury I sustained last season, I was still getting a lot of pain and just knew something just wasn’t right with it,” explained King on the Ospreys website.

Alun Wyn Jones and Wayne Pivac tee up the 2021 Wales Six Nations campaign

“Further scans have now gone on to show that the operation has failed and that my shoulder has not healed enough to continue playing rugby. I’m therefore announcing my retirement from professional rugby with immediate effect.”

Born in Wodonga, Australia, King played for Wales U18s and U20s and for Aberavon before graduating to the Ospreys first-team squad and going on to make his Wales Test debut in 2013 versus Japan.

“I’ve been at the Ospreys for my whole professional career and the fans have been nothing but supportive even through tougher times."
??https://t.co/FFAFpeZHLU #ThankYouKingy? pic.twitter.com/5DWbcB2mEP
— Ospreys (@ospreys) February 2, 2021

He added: “Rugby has given so much to me and I’m truly grateful for all of it. I have travelled all over the world, met some incredible people along the way and had experiences that will stay with me for a lifetime. I have been at the Ospreys for my whole professional career and the fans have been nothing but supportive even through tougher times.

“I would have liked to have thanked everybody who has helped me on this journey individually, but I’d probably run out of pages… and that’s just the rugby community. Never will you find a group of people where everyone is so forthcoming to help you, enabling you to be the best version of yourself. So to everybody who has helped me along the way, ‘Thank you’.

“While this might be the end of my playing days it’s just the start of something new. Although it’s not how I would have wanted to finish, I’m genuinely excited to get out there and find out what the next part of my journey is.”

"My fear is that if it goes too far from what is a touring side with 30,000 fans to games at home with no fans, will it keep its special place in rugby’s hearts?"
– A solution from Keith Wood to the current impasse, w/@chrisjonespress ???#LionsRugby https://t.co/Su3rZl9I79
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 2, 2021

LIVE

Comments

0 Comments

Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Latest Features

LONG READ

Gatland defiant but Welsh rugby no nearer escape route with Springboks looming

No one is expecting Wales to beat South Africa but the performance will go a long way to proving Gatland retains the faith of his players

LONG READ

Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

The Irishman's abrupt departure left his players reeling and confused about their new rearguard action.

LONG READ

'Steve Borthwick hung his troops out to dry - he should take some blame'

The England head coach shoulders some responsibility for his side's disappointing autumn results.

Comments on RugbyPass

RedWarrior 12 minutes ago

Andy Farrell faces up to concerning Irish 'trends' ahead of Fiji

There is nothing particularly significant about Ireland in this regard compared to other Tier 1 nations. To look at 'strategy' for illegal play its best to see what teams push boundaries with new laws. SA have milked two tries at ruck block downs. The strategy is to charge the first few before the ball is out at about 4 seconds but pull out and put up hands in reigned apology. The referees usually allow the scum half to clear without awarding a penalty in this scenario. The problem with that being that the scrumhalf is now taking over 5 seconds through no fault of his own. Having achieved a few slow balls > 5s , the SA forward can now pick a scrum to charge dead on 5s. Now if the scrum half waits, he will concede a penalty, as we saw against Scotland. With the new rule in place, any early charge should result in an immediate penalty.

SA also got an offside block against England which was pivotal again after a couple of 'apologetic' offside aborted charges forcing England to clear slowly.

2 Go to comments

RedWarrior 29 minutes ago

Ex-All Black accuses Ireland's Jack Crowley of 'disgusting' act in Argentina win

Yep, you're not the sharpest tool in the shed are you?

45 Go to comments

Mark 39 minutes ago

Fin Baxter wades into debate over the England losing streak

Totally agree, and with the Greenwood comment you have hit the nail on the head, England have never managed to replace Greenwood.

And although it's a simple analogy if you look at today's England side, how many of them would make a combined world xv?.

As you allude to, they are I'm afraid mediocre.

3 Go to comments

Lisa Decker 42 minutes ago

Ex-All Black accuses Ireland's Jack Crowley of 'disgusting' act in Argentina win

Dr Hope love spell, you just fixed my relationship. We have been fighting every day and you’ve just fixed it and I cannot thank you enough. Thank you Dr Hope for saving my broken relationship and my boyfriend is back to me. If you have any problem in marriage/relationship. contact him and i guarantee you that he will help you. Here’s his contact: Email him at: marriagehelper91@gmail.com /WhatsApp him: +2349137446738 Thank you Dr you're the most wonderful spiritual Dr I have ever seen.

45 Go to comments

Werner 45 minutes ago

Let's be real about these All Blacks

I dare say it's an "everyone against the ABs" scrapbook. Only time I've seen him give half a compliment is when he talks about other teams beating the Springboks. Even in this article he puts the Argentina win in NZ down to the ABs being bad rather than the Argentines playing well, which they have been doing all year round.

49 Go to comments

AA 55 minutes ago

Fin Baxter wades into debate over the England losing streak

Agreed. Borthwick will have to write a new excuse book soon .

I have looked at the two world cup final teams from 2003 and 2020.

2003 team scored 187 tries between them in 389 caps

2020 team scored 113 tries between them in 473 caps. As you can see a huge disparity in scoring rate. Only Johnny May with 36 tries in 78 caps scored a higher amount of tries. Elliot Daly comes close but the rest are frankly very poor.

Farrell and Ford scored a pathetic 20 tries between them in a combined 210 caps.

There again , the 2003 team did have Wilko and Greenwood etc whereas 2020 team had Ford and Farrell .

So much people saying that Fords strength is of bringing others into the game .

Really. The figures totally disprove that notion .

It has been mentioned elsewhere that we have accepted mediocrity far too often and the figures would indicate that players are or have been picked far too often without performing .

3 Go to comments

Alex 1 hour ago

Let's be real about these All Blacks

Not disputing that NZ are ahead of Eng. Also not saying Eng are unlucky (though clearly the tone of the article is not that the ABs were unlucky but that they 'should have' won). Your team are looking great and are on the up. I just felt that Pundits have argued Eng 'should have' won the first test against the ABs, when it's more nuanced than that, and very fine margins determine results that Eng didn't get right. Same applies, therefore, to NZ and other nations. Ben Smith though doesn't seem to see it that way. To be clear: I'm not saying I agree with the 'should haves', but more that I take issue with the phrasing.

Good to see your respect for other nations is so strong! Proper rugby fan you are!!!

49 Go to comments

RedWarrior 1 hour ago

Did Rassie Erasmus miss a trick with his latest South Africa squad?

GB is England, Scotland, Wales. They are the 3 constituent countries in Great Britain. Ergo playing only those three countries is a tour of GB. The difference between GB and the UK is Northern Ireland. It's not a huge deal to be accurate and call places by their correct name. But please refrain from your idiotic attempts to BS that GB=UK. It doesn't.

52 Go to comments

RedWarrior 1 hour ago

'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'