England centre has explained his shock decision to retire aged 27 after chat with Borthwick

10/24/2024 08:49 AM

Former England and Leicester Tigers centre Guy Porter confirmed his retirement from the sport during the summer with immediate effect aged 27.

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In June 2022, Porter received his first call-up to the senior England squad from coach Eddie Jones. Although he was named on the bench for the first test, Porter did not play as England lost 30–28. He made his debut in the second test, starting at centre in a 25–17 victory for England.

Porter was initially left out of the squad for the 2023 Six Nations Championship due to injury. However, he was called up a week before the tournament began to replace his Leicester Tigers teammate Dan Kelly, who was sidelined by a thigh injury.

Porter, who played under Borthwick at Leicester, exclusively told Rugby Dump: “I had a particularly long-term injury from November which I struggled to get back from. I spoke to a few doctors and neurologists along the recovery journey and tried to work it out in my head, but ultimately, I'd decided that I'd pushed it as far as I'd like to.

“It was bound to have an impact on my approach to the game, and I only really enjoyed it if I was willing to put my head in the spokes. As soon as I felt like I didn't have the desire to do that I realised it was probably time to move on while I was still feeling positive about it.

"I finished my contract and in the context of all that, I just decided not to look for anything else because I felt like the ongoing risk outweighed my desire to continue."

When asked what is next, Porter said: "I feel lucky, to be honest, I wasn't professional until I was 22, so I went to uni and I've done some work in the past so I've got a little bit of a foundation there, so yeah it's certainly a change of pace!

"I'm feeling pretty positive and excited about it, so it's certainly not a sob story. I think people are very lovely and endearing, and feel sorry for me to some extent, but I feel like I've had a really good experience of it and now I'm feeling positive about doing something else."

Owen Farrell names four rugby players he can't stand, including a World Cup-winner

Former England captain Owen Farrell is never afraid of sharing an opinion or two – especially when it's about someone he doesn't particularly like.

#1. Dave Attwood

Former England lock Attwood has opened up on the latest RugbyPass Offload about his ongoing rivalry with Owen Farrell.

The Bath lock won the last of his 24 caps for England back in 2016, which could have a lot to do with his relationship with the current England captain.

He revealed: “On the pitch, I struggle a lot with Owen Farrell. We just don't see eye to eye on a lot of things,

"He hates me with a passion. Despite my earthy roots, he thinks I am a posh c***. He hates that. I bagged rugby league once jovially. I was saying it to take the piss kind of thing, 'a bloody sport for the peasants'. He f**kin' hated it.

“He had a bit of a shout at me and went off to the toilet and I followed him.

"We all had a drink or two after the game but we didn't need to get carried away with this. I was in the urinal behind the door and he was three or four down and as I got in his dad walked in as well, he was coaching at the time. He was, 'I don't want to fuckin' hear it' or something like that and as he walked out he went to open the door and slam it into the back of me. There was like a stop on the floor so it hit the stop and almost clocked him back…

"We never really addressed it after that. That was where it started and it was like a drunken little bit of argy that went too far. He is an incredibly competitive athlete and he is also very f**kin' good, he has got high standards. He is a very competitive athlete and in order to be that good, you have to flirt on the wrong side of competitive.

"So whenever we play each other there is always some element in the game where one of us is running at the other one or we are trying to bang each other. There always seems to be an element of that to it. I am sure he is like, I don't even know that Dave is playing."

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