Former England rugby union fullback Nick Abendanon on Sunday announced that he was retiring due to a lack of an opportunity to prove his quality with the French Top 14 season on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abendanon, 33, who made his two Test appearances in 2007, joined ASM Clermont Auvergne in 2014 after nine seasons with Bath and his contract finishes this summer.
“It’s difficult, but at the end of June I have to stop, I haven’t got a choice,” Abendanon told the Midi Olympique. “In my head, I hoped to play as much as possible at the end of the season to prove I was at this level and I deserved a contract at another club.”
The season has been suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with nine rounds of the French top flight remaining.
Clermont had also qualified for the European Champions Cup quarter-finals.
“It’s not at all my decision. There are things above us in life, events more important than your plans. I don’t feel ready to stop, but I have to,” Abendanon said.
Abendanon, who won the Top 14 in 2017, two Challenge Cup trophies and was the European Player of the Year in 2015, had talks with the San Diego Legion in the US and had been linked with a return to the English Premiership with London Irish.
“I had contact with some clubs, discussions that were advanced, but everything went cold. Now, I have nothing,” he said.
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