Northern | US

'No professional has done that' - Ageless George Smith reveals ambitious goal


Bristol Bears backrow George Smith (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
Comments
Comment

Former Wallabies flanker George Smith has stated his desire to continue playing despite his advanced age.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I do have a personal target,” the 38-year-old Bristol flanker told The Rugby Paper.

“I started in 1999 and it would be nice to make that fourth decade, playing at least a few games in each because no professional has done that.”

Smith represented the Wallabies 111 times after making his debut in 2000. He last played international rugby in 2013 and spent part of 2018 in Australia with the Queensland Reds before joining Premiership side Bristol Bears.

“I’ve always enjoyed my football with all the teams I’ve been a part of and it’s great to play rugby for a living so it’s not hard to find the motivation to carry on,” Smith said.

Despite signing on for the rest of the season after initially joining Bristol on a short-term deal, Smith is unsure where his playing future lies.

“I had a short term contract at Bristol but with with the way it was going, for me to extend shows the faith I have in the way we play the game and the people in the squad,” he explained. “It’s just for six months so we’ll leave it there for now and see how things go.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Smith has played club rugby in Australia, France, Japan and England during his career, representing the Brumbies, Lyon, Queensland Reds, Stade Français, Toulon, Suntory Sungoliath and Wasps.

His 142 caps for the Brumbies are second only to longtime prop Ben Alexander, and he sits fifth all time for Wallabies caps.

In other news:

Video Spacer

 

 

Get the RugbyPass App 📱

Follow the biggest matches with live scores, line-ups, news and analysis, all in the RugbyPass App.

Download Here
On Apple IOS, Android, and Tablet.
ADVERTISEMENT
Play Video
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Long Reads

Comments on RugbyPass

P
Phantom 39 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



...

14 Go to comments
Close Panel
Close Panel

Edition & Time Zone

{{current.name}}
Set time zone automatically
{{selectedTimezoneTitle}} (auto)
Choose a different time zone
Close Panel

Editions

Close Panel

Change Time Zone

Close
ADVERTISEMENT
Copied to clipboard

Share Article close