Jefferson Poirot announces shock retirement from Test rugby at 27

French prop Jefferson Poirot has decided to retire from international rugby at the age of just 27 - in a bizarre move announced in an interview with Le Equippe. Poirot, who has 35 caps to his name and who is highly rated in France, informed French head coach Fabien Galthie in person before giving an exclusive interview to the sports paper, which was published this today. This afternoon the prop took to social media to explain his decision further. "It’s time for me to tell you about the difficult decision I made a few months ago.

"That I'm taking a step back from this grail that is the France Team, this wonderful team that is so dreaming, that is so hard to reach but that is also sometimes trying," wrote Poirot.

"After 5 seasons to invest in it, to participate in this race against the clock, I decided to take a step back, to devote myself fully to other personal goals.

"This decision will allow me to no longer feel like I am 50% on all fronts, and to focus on a 100% goal. The goal that keeps me obsessing about winning club titles, turning my career in playing, and being a full-time Dad."

"Those who do not know me will be surprised, perhaps disappointed, those who know me will be able to understand. My loved ones support me, and this decision has been carefully considered, in any case it is not a whim: it is for me the right decision. The upstanding man, the father, is the one who makes the right decisions, at the right time, to be as tall as possible."

"I would like to thank coaches, players, volunteers, managers that I have had the honor of meeting for the past 5 years in blue, thank all of the French players in the 2019 World Cup.

"The culmination of my international career, it will remain engraved in me for life.

"I wish the French team good luck for the future, I am convinced that this team has a bright future. This exceptional generation, the means put in place by the federation and the sports management, is "the France 2023 generation"! I wish her to be the first World Champion. French rugby deserves it, and I'm glad to have been able to participate, humbly, in helping to achieve, I hope, this magnificent goal. I am now confined to the status of a supporter of the XV of France."

Born to a Nigerian father and a French mother, he took up rugby at the age of nine and moved to CA Brive at age 15. He went on to represent France in the U20s, including at the 2012 Junior World Championship, where France finished in sixth place.

The 117kg frontrower made his test debut on 6 February, 2016, in a 23-21 Six Nations triumph over Italy and first captained Les Bleus in the 32-3 victory over Scotland in August, 2019.