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Dragons' Lloyd Fairbrother confirms his immediate-effect retirement

Dragons prop Lloyd Fairbrother is applauded off following a 2023 game versus Ospreys (Photo by Huw Fairclough/Getty Images)

Dragons prop Lloyd Fairbrother has confirmed his immediate-effect retirement from playing just weeks before the Welsh franchise open their new URC campaign at home to Ospreys on September 21. It was January 1 this year when the 32-year-old made the last of his 172 appearances and a back injury sidelined him since then.

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A statement read: “Legendary prop Lloyd Fairbrother has announced his retirement from professional rugby with immediate effect. The iconic front row – a cult figure with an army of fans at Rodney Parade – made a total of 172 appearances for Dragons, scoring five tries, over a decade of loyal service.

“Born in Cornwall but now a true Man of Gwent, Fairbrother is joint fifth in the club’s all-time appearance charts, alongside Jack Dixon, and remains the most capped prop in club history.

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Springbok Jasper Wiese talks about the lengthy ban and being back in the Bok team

“Fairbrother had previous playing spells with Exeter Chiefs, Moseley, Cornish Pirates and Plymouth Albion before making the move to Newport in the summer of 2014 where he became a cornerstone of the pack at Dragons. Qualifying for Wales courtesy of his mother who was born in Blaenavon, Fairbrother proudly represented his country in a fixture with the Barbarians at Principality Stadium in November 2023.”

Fairbrother said: “Regrettably, I have had to make the decision to step away from professional rugby and focus on my health, well-being and family. This has been one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make.

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“But I’m stepping away as I don’t feel I can get back to being 100 per cent due to back issues and knowing that carrying on will be detrimental to my long-term health. From the bottom of my heart, I would truly like to thank everyone that has been a part of my journey.

“To all the clubs that I have represented, past and present players and staff. To all my friends, supporters, and critics. To the Dragons supporters, I deeply appreciate the support and following I have had over my career. It has meant everything to me and representing the people of Gwent has always been one of my main purposes. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you all in my corner.”

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Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan added: “We are all disappointed that Lloyd is leaving us, but fully support and understand the difficult decision he has taken ahead of the new season. Lloyd has been a wonderful servant for the Dragons, and it is hard to put into words the impact that he has had.

“The Cornishman who became a true Man of Gwent, a player who truly embraced representing the Dragons. The way he played the game was reflected in the admiration that every fan held him in. He gave it everything and fans loved him for that.

“It says so much that his sole appearance for Wales was met with delight not only by fans at Dragons, but by all Welsh rugby followers. No man deserved that moment more and he can look back on his career with huge pride.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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