Former Wasps centre Ross Neal retires due to concussion

Former Wasps centre Ross Neal has retired due to concussion at the age of 26 it has been confirmed by his club.

The towering centre left English shores for the MLR and Seattle Seawolves, who broke the news that he was retiring over the weekend.

Neal made 29 appearances for the Seawolves since arriving in 2020, scoring 14 tries.

“It’s been an incredibly hard decision and I’m truly gutted to have to stop playing at this point in my career,” Neal said. “I had been struggling with concussion symptoms and I felt I’d been trying to downplay them as I knew what accepting them would mean.

“This took a bit of a toll on me mentally and on the pitch, so after giving it real thought once the season had ended; I decided it would be best for me to hang up my boots.”

Neal began his career with London Irish where he came through their academy, but it was during a season in the Greene King IPA Championship with London Scottish that Neal came to the attention of Wasps’ then director of rugby Dai Young.

Starting all 22 matches in English rugby’s second tier, Neal used his 6ft 5, 110kg frame and long stride to claim eight tries.

He then went on to score twice on his Premiership debut earning considerable acclaim from the watching BT Sport pundits as Wasps claimed a 32-28 win over Bristol in November 2018.

Frustrated by his lack of opportunity in Coventry, Neal requested early release from his contract to taste life in American Major League Rugby with the Seawolves.