Thorpe to retire at season’s end

Canadian international Richard Thorpe has announced that he will retire from professional rugby at the end of the Greene King IPA Championship season. The English-born loose forward won the first of eight caps against Samoa in November of 2014 at the age of 30 after opting to represent the country of his mother, a native of Burlington, Ontario. He was selected for the 2015 World Cup but only made two appearances including one start against France.

A long-time player at London Irish, he spent one season with Leicester Tigers before joining his current club London Welsh ahead of the 2013-14 season. Thorpe will end his professional career with exactly 100 Aviva Premiership matches played and 18 appearances in the Heineken Cup. He now turns his focus to a career in real estate development, having established his own company RDT Property Ltd.