Leeds Carnegie centre Chris Jones has been forced to retire from playing professional rugby due to a shoulder injury.
Leeds Carnegie centre retires, aged 25.
Leeds Carnegie centre Chris Jones is devastated after injury forced him to retire from playing professional rugby.
Jones, who signed for Leeds from Sale Sharks in 2005, has been forced to quit after a re-occurrence of a shoulder injury.
The 25-year-old - who made just three appearances last season before dislocating his shoulder and missing the rest of the campaign - was ready and fit to play again until the same injury was sustained in training.
Jones has studied for a sports science degree at Leeds Metropolitan University since arriving at Headingley and now hopes to put his qualification to good use.
"It is obviously massively disappointing to have to retire. Having missed all last season, I was looking forward to getting back to playing and I would have loved to have played in the Guinness Premiership again," Jones told www.guinnesspremiership.com.
"However, just as I was getting back to full fitness, my left shoulder was dislocated again in training and I knew by the way that it came out far too easy that there was a major problem. It happened just in the warm-up so could have happened at any time once I got into a contact situation.
"I will have an operation on 18th September to clear things up but it will be to get the shoulder right for life after rugby.
"I obviously do not want to retire at 25 but fortunately I started a sports science degree at Leeds Met a couple of years ago and I graduated this summer. I had always hoped to put my degree to good use but not as quickly as this."
Academy position
Jones has the chance to make the most of his qualification as he will remain at Leeds to work with the academy.
He added: "Thankfully the club have offered me a position within the academy set up and I will be assisting Diccon Edwards and Mark Luffman with the conditioning of the under-19 side for the time being.
"Hopefully I can give something back to the academy and I wish Stuart (Lancaster) and the boys all the best for the challenge ahead in the Guinness Premiership,"
Saddened
Coach Stuart Lancaster - who had to retire through injury himself - is also saddened by the news.
He said: "We were all desperately disappointed to see Chris injure his shoulder again in training as we all knew how hard he had worked to get back from his last injury and we all feel for him.
"We all continue to support Chris in his future career and hopefully by working with the academy he can add to the experience his sports science degree has given him and put himself in a good position to move forward towards the next stage of his life."
In total Jones made 27 appearances for Leeds, prior to joining them he played 28 times for Sale in the Guinness Premiership and also played rugby league for St Helens and Leigh Centurions.
