Former England and Leicester Tigers centre Guy Porter has confirmed his retirement from the sport exclusively to RugbyDump 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 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.”
England set to play Wales at expanded 2027 Rugby World Cup
During the draw, the 24 participating teams will be divided into six pools, each consisting of four teams. Notably, this draw will transpire before the regional qualifiers have concluded, resulting in a dual-world approach.
On one side, we have the twelve automatic qualifiers from the 2023 Rugby World Cup, confirmed by their names. On the other side, the regional qualifiers will be represented as Africa 1, Europe 1, Europe 2, and so forth.
Rugby World Cup 2027 is set to be hosted in Australia, marking the eleventh edition of the Men’s Rugby World Cup and the third time it will take place in Australia. The country previously co-hosted the inaugural Rugby World Cup with New Zealand in 1987 and served as the sole host in 2003.
With the current World Rankings in mind, let’s delve into how the 2027 Rugby World Cup will shape up via Rugby Centre.
2027 Rugby World Cup draw (Current rankings)
POOL A
- South Africa
- Argentina
- Samoa
- Spain
POOL B
- Ireland
- Australia
- Georgia
- Romania
