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'I hate talking about people being retired, it sounds terrible'

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Dean Richards had a candid confession to make after spending some time at his Newcastle media briefing on Thursday talking about the sad retirement with immediate effect of England back row Mark Wilson earlier this week. “I hate talking about people being retired, it’s as though you have written him off in his life. It sounds f***in’ terrible,” he said.

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It was Monday when Wilson, a member of the 2019 England World Cup final squad, called it quits at the age of 32 following a horrible season in which he had knee surgery and made just a single club appearance, a brief cameo off the bench in last month’s Gallagher Premiership loss to Gloucester. 

There was dressing room emotion when the news broke. “Most of the boys knew (it was coming) but there was upset. It’s one thing to sort of half-know and then another it being confirmed,” outlined Richards to RugbyPass about the long-serving Newcastle flanker whose future plans are unknown although he currently has the No6 Coffee House in Ryton.  

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It was just before the 2021/22 season started in September when it emerged that Wilson needed an operation and his return took longer than expected, the back-rower only finally coming into Newcastle’s selection plans for the recent January 29 game at Kingston Park. 

Instead of that return to play confirming a successful comeback, however, it was instead the nudge that left Wilson knowing it was time to step away and admit defeat after countless hours of injury rehabilitation.  

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“His knee had been grumbling for quite some time and we sat down after one of the games recently and he said that he went to go on the pitch, he had warmed up on the bike and he just struggled, his knee locked out on the pitch and he was limping around. It [Retirement] didn’t come as a surprise at all, to be honest with you. He has had a lot of problems with it over the last few years.”

How did that Richards conversation with Wilson unfold? “It has been a conversation that he and I have been having for quite some time just in terms of his own welfare. This wasn’t just a current, immediate situation that you look at, you look long term as well and you look at what they are going to be like in ten or 15 years’ time.

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“I wouldn’t want to have anybody to have to walk around in the way that I do at the moment or some of the older players do. What you advise and what you say to the players is sometimes based around your own personal experience and it is just opening their eyes to what options and opportunities are there.

“Ultimately you leave it up to the player to make their own decisions on that unless it is something completely obvious and they shouldn’t be playing which would be a complete danger to them.”

It was this time last year, when Wilson was part of the 2021 Guinness Six Nations England team, when Eddie Jones described the flanker as a “fighter”, someone who had fought his way through against the odds to forge a successful rugby career via the university route. He went on to play a central part in the Newcastle built up this last decade by Richards.

“The whole group has been very tight over the last ten years and even with Mark away we have still fought and fought,” said the Falcons boss. “He is one of the boys that have come through in the ten years and been part of a small group of boys that have been around for that period of time.

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“They set the standards and culture within the group and fighting to the last, the nth, has always been the reason we have stayed where we have really in terms of staying in the Premiership apart from the year after we finished fourth, but there were other reasons behind that.”

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J
JW 28 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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