The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Veteran wing planning to call time on lengthy career
Perth-born Scotland wing set to call it a day after 105 Test appearances
Veteran Scotland wing Sean Lamont has admitted he expects to retire from rugby at the end of the season.
Glasgow Warriors star Lamont remains Scotland’s third most capped player with 105 Test appearances between 2004 and 2016.
But the Perth-born 36-year-old now expects to call time on his lengthy career, unless Glasgow take the unlikely step of convincing him to play one more season.
“Unless they beg me to stay another year, I think I’m done,” Lamont told the BBC.
“I have had a great run and enjoyed every single moment but it is time to step aside. I am not going to flog a dead horse, although some might say I’ve been two years dead anyway!”
Power-running wing Lamont broke through with Rotherham in 2000 before moving to Glasgow, in a career also comprising spells at Northampton and the Scarlets.
Lamont has made just four starts for Glasgow this term, with his last Scotland cap coming last summer against Japan.
“I love the sport, I love being in it and I love the guys I work with. But I just don’t have the gas any more,” said Lamont.
“I can’t get through those holes I see. I can still truck it up a distance, but there is definitely a blunting of the axe.
“It is disappointing it is coming to the end but I am 36 and I have done pretty well considering, when you look at the guys in the Scotland squad. Even if I was just arriving at my peak I don’t think I would get in the current side.”
Meanwhile Scotland’s Six Nations triumph over Italy has come at a massive cost to Huw Jones – and Glasgow.
The 24-year-old centre suffered a ripped hamstring at Murrayfield and will be sidelined for six months.
His lay-off will rule him out of Scotland’s summer tour to Australia and Fiji, along with the early stages of the Warriors’ European Champions Cup and Pro12 campaigns.
He is also unlikely to be in new national coach Gregor Townsend’s selection shake up for the autumn Test series.
Details of Jones’ injury were revealed by bosses at current club, The Stormers in South Africa.
A spokesman said: “Huw suffered a torn hamstring during the Scotland v Italy match at the weekend and will undergo surgery in London. He will not be able to train for four to five months.”
The injury means Jones, who appeared in every Scotland game during the Six Nations, has played his last match for the Stormers.
He had been due to be part of their plans for the Super Rugby season in the Southern Hemisphere before linking up with Glasgow and new head coach Dave Rennie.