Surprise at CJ Stander retirement

I am pretty surprised at the news that Ireland number eight, CJ Stander, has confirmed that he will retire from professional rugby at the end of the season.

It appears that Stander, who won his 50th cap for Ireland at the weekend, is leaving professional rugby literally to spend more time with his family back home in South Africa.

Although in principle not a huge fan of the concept of project players, there’s little doubt that Stander has given several years of wholehearted commitment to both Munster and Ireland, both of whom will miss him hugely. Certainly I’d say that his full-on performances for his adopted country since making his international debut in 2016 were a significant contributor to Ireland reaching the heady heights of being ranked the world’s number 1 team in 2019.

At only thirty years old, Stander is very much bowing out on his own terms, something I have to admire.

And there may still be a couple more Lions caps to add to his honours before he finally hangs up his boots.

Good luck to him…

Total Flanker – the older I get, the better I was