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Marco Mama has retired with immediate effect after 12-year career

26 Aug 2021

(Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)

Ex-Bristol back-rower Marco Mama has decided to retire from playing two months after being released by Worcester at the end of the 2020/21 season. The 30-year-old Nigerian-born, Zimbabwe-raised forward played for five-and-a-half seasons at Sixways after he initially joined the Warriors on loan for much of the 2015/16 campaign before ending that season back at Bristol where he made his pro ranks breakthrough.

It was June 10 when Mama was named as one of the 20 players who would be leaving Worcester as new coach Jonathan Thomas overhauled his squad and the back-rower has now decided it is best to quit player rather than find another club.

Writing on Instagram, Mama said: “The time has come to hang up the boots. I have absolutely loved my twelve years of professional rugby, but there comes a point where the reward from the game is diminished and the risks are more apparent.

What sacrifice means to the Black Ferns

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What sacrifice means to the Black Ferns

“One thing I do know about rugby is you are either in it or not, so now is the time to step away and enjoy everything life has to offer outside of the game. I will look back with pure fondness at the emotional highs and lows. It is a special game and it has shaped me into the man I am today.

“Thank you to all at @bristolbearsrfc and @WorcsWarriors that have contributed and supported my career during my time there. Over and out.”

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A post shared by Marco Mama (@marco_mama)

Thomas described his Worcester overhaul plans to RugbyPass in May. “We have been quite ruthless in the process. It’s never ideal to have that volume of players off-contract at one time and leaving, 20 players or whatever it is, so that has certainly been really tough, some tough conversations especially when I have got a huge amount of respect and care a lot about the players that are leaving… but we have done really well.

“We have got a couple more players that we would like to bring in but when you look at the whole thing we are pretty pleased with recruitment, with what we have got coming in next year. I’m really excited about the squad we will have. It will be a smaller squad than this year but we don’t mind going with a smaller squad because we have got some good, young homegrown players coming through.”

Some ambitious outside-the-box thinking has taken place at Worcester over the summer following last season's 12th place finish https://t.co/nD4Z8kmbBL
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 26, 2021

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GS 3 minutes ago

James O'Connor, the Lions and the great club v country conundrum

Whilst I dislike what is occurring with the French clubs, they are not the only parties involved in this activity. You can also look to Ireland and its “Project Player” Scheme, or how Scotland picks players with zero background who have never lived in Scotland.

But market forces will dictate where players will end up.

If RA wants to retain these players, then it should offer them remuneration in line with or better than what the French clubs can. The NZRFU should have offered Aki, Lowe, or Fergus Burke a higher salary than what was offered by the likes of Irish Rugby, Sacarens, etc., if it wanted to retain them.

These kids going to France and the aforementioned Kiwi players are attempting to build a career and financial security in a career that can end with one injury. Think about that—one bad injury, and your career is over, so just like anyone, they have to make the smart, informed decision that is right for them and their families.

If the likes of Oz and NZ can’t or are not prepared to match the $$$, so be it - this is the reality of professional rugby, and whilst it turns the international game into a glorified club comp, I’m not sure if there is any solution.

And let’s remember it’s not all negative. This movement of players from Nth to South gives kids like Blair Murray or Taine Plumtree the ability to earn good $$ and experience international rugby, when let’s face it, they would at best be on the fringes of a Super Rugby squad - so it’s not all bad!

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JH 9 minutes ago

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..and most telling. How many Kiwis and Aussies are propping up the Samoan and Tongan sides these days. Even Fiji has some, although compared to those two, they’re relatively light on the poaching.

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JH 13 minutes ago

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Think you’ll find MP is set up to poach Kiwi and Aussie born players. That’s why most of their roster is NZers and based in NZ.

Also AB’s one of the most-home grown sides in international rugby, with most of their ‘foreign’ players having come here as kids with their parents. You can’t say the same for the Tongan and Samoan squads these days, which much like MP, are filled with Kiwis and Aussies. So, who is poaching from who. Exactly. You’re welcome.

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BH 48 minutes ago

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