Ricky Januarie announces retirement from International Rugby
Ricky Januarie, the 29-year-old scrum half of the South African Rugby Union (SARU) Springboks has announced his withdrawal from the preliminary Rugby World Cup 49-man training squad and has verified his retirement from International Rugby, on Friday,
June 24.
Januarie has terminated his legal ties with DHL Western Province to kick off a brand new career with Lyon, the french club that is heading for their debut in the French Top 14. Also, he will not participate in the Super Rugby season due to a hand injury.
Regarding his exit, Januarie stated, “I’ve had a great run in South African rugby and have some fantastic memories but the time has come to move on. Lyon have offered me a new beginning and I want to concentrate all my efforts on helping them in their first
season in the French Top 14.”
Peter de Villiers, who succeeded Jake White as coach of the South African national Springbok team in 2008 talked about Januarie and said, “…his match-winning try against New Zealand in Dunedin will be remembered as long as the Springboks play.”
Also, De Villiers also said that he was fine with Januarie’s decision to pull out of the Rugby World Cup preliminary training squad. He continued and said that Januarie was willing to “move on” and De Villiers was not going to obstruct his way.
Januarie’s rugby career took off on June11, 2005 in East London in a match against Uruguay. The last test match he played was in Soweto on August 20, against New Zealand. He was associated with Boland in 2002, then he shifted to Golden Lions from 2003-2006
and finally concluded his tenure with Western Province.
The player was also part of the Springbok’s winning squad in the Castle Tri-Nations Series in 2009. This was the fourteenth Tri Nations Rugby union series of its kind. The tournament is a contest among three Rugby giants including the All Blacks, Wallabies,
and Springboks, which are the national teams of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa respectively. Against the All Blacks, Springboks made a magnificent victory by 32–29 in Hamilton on September 12, 2009.
With 47 caps under his belt, the player also has participated in three tour matches and 50 Springbok matches. Januarie has been honoured in the past with a nomination for the South Africa Rugby Player of the Year in 2005. His memorable try in 2008’s match
against New Zealand has lead him to be the winner of the “SuperSport Try of the Year”.
Januarie was also part of the South African squad in 2007 which made the Springbok’s the reigning champions of world rugby. The experienced player will surely by missed but it seems he has said good bye to Test rugby while he was still on top.
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