1
Leicester statement: 'Game changer' Chris Ashton confirms retirement
Former England international Chris Ashton has confirmed he will retire from playing at the end of the current Gallagher Premiership season with Leicester. The recently turned 36-year-old joined the Tigers in the spring of last year, going on to become the record all-time Premiership try-scorer and winning the title.
ADVERTISEMENT
Having since played 13 times this season, with his last appearance coming in late February at London Irish, he has now confirmed he will retire and won’t be staying on under incoming head coach Dan McKellar.
A statement read: “Chris Ashton will retire at the conclusion of the 2022/23 season after an 18-year career as a professional in both rugby union and rugby league. The Leicester outside-back has made 25 appearances for the club after joining midway through the 2021/22 campaign.
“Prior to joining Tigers, Ashton played for Wigan Warriors (rugby league), and Northampton Saints, Saracens, Toulon, Sale Sharks, Harlequins and Worcester Warriors (rugby union), as well as representing England in both codes and the Barbarians.
“One of the most prolific try-scorers in the history of rugby union, Ashton is the record try-scorer in the Gallagher Premiership (98) and Heineken Champions Cup (41) competitions. To date, he has won three Premierships, two Heineken Champions Cups and one European Challenge Cup.
"One group's talking daddy daycare and the other Tik-Tok…"
– @ChrisAshton1, w/@heagneyl ???, on golden oldies at Leicester, what has happened to the Ash Splash, and why he is very much a big England fan. #EnglandRugby #Leicester #LIRvLEI #GallagherPrem https://t.co/J33sZ2awnJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 25, 2023
“His professional career began in 2005 when he debuted for Wigan, as an 18-year-old, and scored two tries in his first appearance. Ashton made more than 50 appearances for the Super League club, and represented England in rugby league, before switching to rugby union to join Northampton.
“In 2010, he made his England Rugby Test debut and went on to represent his country on 44 occasions, scoring 20 international tries. He spent five seasons with Saints before moving to Saracens, where he spent a further five years and was part of two Premiership and one European Cup winning campaigns.
ADVERTISEMENT
“In 2017, Ashton joined Toulon and, during his lone year in France, he broke the record for tries scored in a single season with 24 tries in 23 appearances. He returned to England in 2018 to join Sale before stints with Harlequins and Worcester ahead of joining Tigers in February 2022.
“In his time at Tigers so far, he has scored 10 tries in 25 appearances and started on the wing in the 2021/22 Premiership final win over his former club Saracens at Twickenham.”
Ashton said: “I have just felt, this season, that my body is not able to do what I want it do anymore. I am still enjoying the game, enjoying being in and around the team and the game every day, but if I am not able to keep the standards that I expect of myself, then it is the right time for me to retire.
“I am content with the decision and, honestly, I definitely wouldn’t have been had I not been able to come to Leicester Tigers, get back into the game and finish my career on my terms. It is the right time for me, I know that, and I am happy in making this decision at this time.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I still can’t believe all that I have been able to do and all that rugby union has given me. This game has opened the world to me, taken me to places I never thought I would have been or experienced, and I am so grateful for that.
“Playing for Wigan Warriors was my dream growing up, that was all I wanted to do, and I know rugby league would have given me so much too, but it is amazing to look back and see what I have been able to do because of both codes and the groups and places I have been a part of in my career.
"I’ll tell you what he has been really good with me…"
– Richard Wigglesworth, with @heagneyl ???, on evergreen Chris Ashton, his most valuable lesson as interim Leicester boss, and how he is managing his hugely changed work-life balance. #GallagherPrem https://t.co/nu3JAe3G4Q
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 22, 2023
“I am honoured to have done what I have done, for the clubs I have played for and to represent my country in two codes. “My time at Leicester Tigers gave me something I thought I might have lost, which was just to play the game again and play until I knew I could keep playing and contributing.
“To be a part of this group, at this club, has been special. This is a unique group of players and unique environment, in the way that they are so resilient, want to do the hard work and have such a no-nonsense approach. I’m grateful to have been able to experience this in my final years and to have been a part of this group of players and people at a club like Leicester.”
Interim Leicester boss Richard Wigglesworth added: “Chris changed the game, to put it bluntly. That’s the biggest compliment I can give him. Coming over from rugby league, at a young age, Chris worked diligently and has never stopped working, to understand the game and to be the very best player he could be.
“He has got a miles better brain for the game than he will ever get credit for and is one of the most competitive players I have played with and coached. He, unashamedly, just wants to score tries and is the most relentless try-scorer there has ever been.
“I have spent a lot of time with Chris over the years, on and off the pitch, and is a great guy, a team guy, with a brilliant attitude and great sense of humour. You will always have a good time with Chris. Since I got this job, his professionalism and his support have been of great help to me.
“He has been a great sounding board for me and, in his time at Leicester Tigers, been a great example of professionalism and work ethic for our young players. I can’t thank him enough for what he has done for me, first as a teammate and now as a coach, and look forward to seeing him continue to be a great player until retirement at the end of this season.”
Comments on RugbyPass
All I can say after reading this bitter, sour, sad piece is… Thank you very much! This will be read in the change room just before kick off on 31 August…
170 Go to commentsLook, we know contradicting opinions and wacky comments bring readers and clicks, so well done to RP for allowing always-wrong-Ben to say something here. However RP needs to put a disclaimer next to his comments for their own credibility. NZ was and is incapable of acknowledging their opp beating them. They refused so with Ire and with Arg in 2022 and also the Boks in 2023 x 2. Nothing Ben says here holds water, NZ attacked backwards, except when Kolisi and Kolbe was off And cyncialy took out Bongi, we played without lineouts for 75mins. Kolisi and Kurt-Lee almost scored twice. Thats 3 vs 2 for Boks, but the Boks opportunities was legal. Boks should have been 16-3 up by half time. Tacticaly the Boks attacked better defended better scrummed better (without a hooker) kicked better and crossed the whitewash more times. Boks beat Fr Eng Nz to win in 23, comeon give some credit at least. Even Federer Verstappen NY Mets, Mamoa, was able to see a great human sport achievement by the Boks and their DNA Boks #RWC27 !🏉
170 Go to commentsForget the 85kg bit, that can become something else. However I do like the one off test on ANZAC day idea. SR plays Fri/ Sat, test players travel Sunday and the squads have the full week together before playing Saturday. Rest of SR has a week off. Either involve women's teams in same location or in the other country and rotate annually. Herbert is right in that change is needed.
3 Go to commentsI’ve read loads of nonsense before but this article takes the cake. Or perhaps someone changed the date for April Fool's Day.
3 Go to commentsReally Rugbypass? Ben Smith I think you forgot what the Springboks did to the All Blacks at Twickenham 8 weeks earlier? Springboks 35 All Blacks 7. There is alot of ifs and buts in your article. The All Blacks threw the sink at the Springboks and unfortunately they were not good enough regardless if they played with 14 men or not. It was the Springboks who forced the All Blacks to make mistakes! Sorry but not Sorry the Springboks is the best ever Rugby World Cup Nation in the world. 4 Cups baby!
170 Go to commentsYou just backed the Boks with that fantastic review! Well done! Have some cake!
170 Go to commentsBen Smith please write up something better than this. The Springboks would have won the world cup if you were 15 men on the field. They would have found a way, they always find a way to beat the All Blacks.
170 Go to commentsWow, there is a lot of “could have” and “ should have” in this waist of time dribble. I love the deportation in this story to search for a glimpse at a silver lining. Here are the facts, NZ was a badly coached and undisciplined shadow of their former glory. They never took the lead in a game they were never going to win.
170 Go to commentsGOTTA MAKE ‘THE GEORGE’ HAPPEN!!!! That’s a great idea! A trans Tasman midget battle on ANZAC Day. I don’t think the ABs Wallabies game should be a one off winner takes all though, just the first match with the other two later in the year with the RC. Reason being, no one will ever shut up about how aussies couldn’t win it when it was a 3 match series.
3 Go to comments@Ben smith. Thats knock out rugby. So honeslty who cares?
170 Go to commentsIt will interesting to know which Irish players said that…
1 Go to commentsNaaaww boys will be boys! Now run along ya wee scamp! Don’t let us catch you at again😏
1 Go to commentsGreat to have Ethan Blackadder back in the Crusaders in the last few weeks. One of the best all round loose forwards around. He played so well last week against the Rebels. Fantastic attitude Ethan has and his comments are spot on.
2 Go to commentsThe author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
170 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
170 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
170 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
170 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
170 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
170 Go to comments