The England and British & Irish Lions wing Anthony Watson has retired from rugby aged 30 on medical grounds, having been advised it was no longer safe to continue playing.
Watson, who brings the curtain down with 56 caps, has been beset by injuries of late with a debilitating back problem proving the final straw. Across a career that began with London Irish in 2011, Watson has been blighted by two long-term achilles layoffs, ACL surgery, more recent calf issues and the back injury that left him in “so much pain”.
Watson said: “I think my body will carry a significant amount of, I guess, deficiency as a result of playing rugby. Stopping now probably allows me to do the basic things I need to do as a dad, husband and son, so that is the priority.”
Despite so many setbacks along the way, Watson appeared at two World Cups for England, on two Lions tours and enjoyed an illustrious nine-year spell at Bath. His most recent England appearance came in the 2023 World Cup warmup defeat by Ireland and he scored the last of his 23 tries in that year’s Six Nations. He currently sits eighth on England’s all-time try-scoring list.
Watson’s two-and-a-half year stint at Leicester has been restricted to just 23 appearances for the Tigers – his most recent coming in December against Sale, which ultimately proved the end.
“As I walked off against Sale I knew there was a chance this might be the last one,” he added.
“I was in so much pain, I’d taken a lot of painkillers just to get to that point in the game. I had no influence on the game. After that it was straight back to the surgeon to see what he suggested.
“He tried another injection, and that would bring it to eight or nine injections. I would hate to think how many I’ve had, and it wasn’t as successful as we wanted it to be. Beyond that he was [saying] ‘I don’t think it’s safe anymore to carry on playing’. It was taken out of my hands and I’m quite grateful it was done that way. It’s hard to say I have dealt with it already because I haven’t. What gives me peace of mind is knowing I did everything I could do, and that’s the way the cookie crumbles.”
Steve Borthwick, who signed Watson at Leicester, was among those to pay tribute. “I was fortunate to have coached Anthony both at Leicester Tigers and England. He is a humble, hard-working professional man who is universally liked and admired in the game,” he said. “He is to be congratulated on a fantastically successful career.”
