Tests no Moore
WALLABIES veteran Stephen Moore got an “overwhelming feeling” it was time to make retirement plans after realising recently he didn’t have enough mental and physical fuel in the tank to make the 2019 World Cup.
Despite being contracted until the end of 2019, Moore announced yesterday he’d retire from international rugby at the end of the year before playing 2018 with the Reds.
The 120-Test hooker will also step down as Test captain immediately, clearing the way for Michael Hooper to take over for the upcoming Rugby Championship.
Moore revealed the captaincy issue wasn’t a major driving force for his decision, however, saying coach Michael Cheika’s plans were always to make a leadership transition around this time.
“Irrespective of whether I had of played through to 2019, the captaincy would have been handed over around now,” Moore said.
“We always had a plan to have some succession around that and the next generation of players to come through and take leadership of the team.”
The 34-year-old surprised teammates by announcing his decision at a team dinner on Wednesday. The Wallabies are in Newcastle on a training camp.
“I have probably been thinking about a couple of months I suppose, through the June Tests, and looking forward to 2019 and whether I felt like I could be around to make a contribution,” Moore said.
“There is still a lot of footy to be played before that so I had to think about it.
“I spoke to a lot of people close to me and came to my decision.
“The overwhelming feeling you get is that it’s time to call it.
“People will tell you that you’ll know when the time is right and I got that strong feeling.
“I knew it was the right thing to do. You don’t want to hang around past your time.”
Moore debuted for Queensland in 2003 and is the second most capped Wallaby of all-time behind George Gregan (139).
Moore played three World Cups and enjoyed two stints for the Reds and one for the Brumbies.