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Blaine Scully shares his retirement message on Twitter
By Josh Raisey
Blaine Scully, the captain of the United States, has shared a parting message on Twitter Tuesday after announcing his retirement from rugby.
The 32-year-old left the Cardiff Blues at the end of last season and has since been without a club, although he led his country at the recent World Cup in Japan at the end of last year.
He posted this message on Twitter alongside a longer statement: “To the friends, team-mates, opponents, coaches and fans, to the clubs and countries and, of course, the game itself, you have my deepest thanks for the experience of a lifetime.”
Scully’s statement gave an insight into the acceptance that he is no longer a professional rugby player, as well as the “gift” of playing rugby for a living, saying that his career was not defined by the number of caps earned or contracts signed but “the way I competed”.
The full-back also thanked his former clubs Leicester Tigers and Cardiff, the University of California, as well as his family throughout his career.
However, he emphasised the pride and honour in playing for the United States, for whom he made his debut in 2011.
He said: “My proudest moments are running out onto the field to represent the United States. For over ten years, I have accepted the responsibility of the US jersey and hoped to live up to what it means to be an Eagle.
“After three World Cups, 54 caps and countless memories of wearing red, white and blue in cities from Sacramento to Tokyo, I’m proud of what I did. But as the great Bill Russell said, ‘You play until there are no games left in your jersey’. It’s my turn to give it back.”
Scully also represented his country in sevens and bows out after a promising RWC display from the Eagles, particularly in a close encounter with France.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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