Former Highlanders and Scotland flanker John Hardie is hanging up his boots at 32 but plans to stay in Edinburgh to potentially pursue a career as a strength and conditioning trainer.
Hardie, who had 16 test caps for Scotland between 2015 and 2017 – confirmed that he will retire from all rugby at the end of the Newcastle Falcons’ English premiership season.
The Southlander said he “won’t miss feeling like roadkill on a Sunday morning’’, but he had enjoyed his career and had “nothing but gratitude for what rugby has given me’’.
“I think I could play for another year or two, but with the way the body is and the time it takes to recover between games – I just think it’s the right time to move on to a different career path,” Hardie said on the Newcastle Falcons’ website.
“It has to happen sometime, so it’s better that I decide it on my own terms. I feel like I’m playing good rugby, and I just don’t want to be hanging around or holding on for too long.’’
Hardie said his style was “to throw everything into it’’ on the pitch, but it was now taking “pretty much the full week’’ to physically recover from each game.
Lumsden-born Hardie has been playing professional rugby since 2007, making his Southland debut soon after leaving Southland Boy’s High School.
He had 65 games for the Stags between 2007 and 2014 and played 53 times for the Highlanders, sharing in their 2015 Super Rugby title triumph (although he was injured for the final).
Hardie moved to Britain in 2015 and qualified instantly for Scotland due to a Fife-born grandmother.
