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Former US Eagles captain and long-time Saracens star Chris Wyles will retire from rugby at the end of the 2017-18 Aviva Premiership season. Ending weeks of speculation, the 34-year-old confirmed the news on Wednesday. It brings the curtains down on a glittering career than has seen him reach the heights of the game in both domestic and international rugby.
Wyles was born in Stamford, Connecticut, but grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania before moving to the UK with his English parents at the age of 11. After two seasons with Nottingham and a brief stay at Northampton Saints he made his international debut against England ‘A’ in the 2007 Churchill Cup. He went on to start all four matches at the Rugby World Cup and was subsequently signed by Saracens.
A decade at one of Europe’s most illustrious outfits has seen Wyles made 243 appearances across all competitions with 67 tries to his name. He has collected three Premiership championships along the way and is the winner of back-to-back European Champions Cup titles.
His test career ended following his third World Cup in 2015. With 54 caps he is one of nine players to achieve the half-century for the USA and his 16 test tries falls behind only Vaea Anitoni and Paul Emerick. Also capped on the HSBC Sevens Series, Wyles played for the Eagles at the 2016 Olympic Games in his final act as an international player.
He now shifts his focus to business, where he has developed a craft beer brewery along with former Saracens teammate Alistair Hargreaves.
