Former British & Irish Lions scrum-half Gareth Cooper has left the Cardiff Blues with immediate effect following medical advice.
Scrum-half advised to take up to a year out of the game
Former British & Irish Lions scrum-half Gareth Cooper has left the Cardiff Blues with immediate effect following medical advice.
Cooper, a Grand Slam winner with Wales in 2005 and 2008, has been told he needs to take up to a year out of the game in order to fully recover from a groin injury.
And Cooper, who has made 22 appearances for the Blues since joining from Gloucester in 2009, has now agreed a deal to leave the Cardiff City Stadium.
"I've come to an amicable agreement with Cardiff Blues and would like to thank them for all their support over the years," he told the region's official site.
"It's been a frustrating couple of years for me and things haven't quite worked as I'd hoped. I don't think I've shown my full potential at the Blues due to the groin injury.
"I've been told by the medical team that I need a full rest from the game for between six to 12 months. The groin injury started to hurt in the summer of 2009 and it's got progressively worse.
"Throughout that period I'd been playing with a lot of pain and had to have two operations on the groin and then a double hernia operation.
"This season I've played 20 minutes against Treviso and started against Connacht but I had to take pain killers, so the doctors have recommended that I am to rest fully for up to a year.
"Obviously I will miss all the players and management who have been fantastic with me since I arrived and would like to wish them the best of luck for the future."
