CJ Stander Might Not Be Retiring From Rugby After All
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Plenty left in the tank.
Munster and Ireland back-rower CJ Stander might not be retiring from rugby entirely after all judging by these comments.
The 30-year-old appeared on the Late Late Show on Friday night to bid farewell to Ireland as he gets set to return home to South Africa at the conclusion of the current season in a few week’s time.
But some interesting comments made by the former British and Irish Lion has a lot of people talking and suggesting he might not be done with rugby quite yet.
When asked about retiring at such a young age, Stander noted that he reckons he has “a lot of rugby” rugby left in him, leaving the door open for a return to rugby in his native country perhaps
“I think I have got a lot of rugby left in me, for sure. I’d say at least seven years,” Stander said.
“I was in South Africa during the lockdown, I got an opportunity to go back and spend time with my family and realised what is important for me, took stock of where I want to be in a few years.
“Our daughter Everli, having her there and seeing how she interacted with the grandparents, I went to my grandparents’ grave and I stood there and thought I missed their funerals, but that was not the problem.
“The problem that I was struggling with was I missed the last nine or ten years of their lives. That was tough, very tough, and I said to Jean-Marie [his wife] that I don’t want to take that opportunity away from Everli at all.”
Could we potentially see Stander line out for a South Africa franchise in the new PRO16 against Munster at some stage down the line? Never say never.