Fraser quits Saracens forward ends rugby career at just 27
Saracens’ Will Fraser breaks the news of his retirement aged just 27 to Charlie Morgan
Glancing across Allianz Park, Will Fraser points to the exact seat from which his father Andrew, head of a tight-knit family, would watch every Saracens match he could possibly attend. Fraser will never again set foot on this artificial surface as a player, nor strain his eyes towards that spot, as he broke the news of his retirement, aged just 27, exclusively to The Daily Telegraph.
Given his phenomenal perseverance until this point, it is perhaps fortunate the decision to retire was made for him. A career that sparkled with promise and silverware amid a black plague of injuries ended this summer with a stark prognosis.
“Last year I managed to squeeze in four games before I slipped a disk in my neck and had a significant bleed on the spine,” Fraser says. “It wasn’t great. I was told by the surgeon there wasn’t a decision to be made. That was that. In that respect, it was made easier because it was black and white.”
Without much time to rack his brains, Fraser can rattle off the 10 operations he has undergone. His hips, knee and right foot account for two each. Both ankles have needed procedures, as has his back and a latissimus dorsi muscle that came away from the bone in the spring of 2013, just before an England cap would almost certainly have arrived.
As a product of Saracens’ academy and the ‘Class of ’08’ that includes George Kruis, Jamie George, Owen Farrell and Jackson Wray, Fraser has seen peers enjoy successful runs without fitness issues. His philosophical outlook is impressive. “Rugby’s a funny one,” he smiles. “You get lads like Jackson and Jamie and Owen. They’ll go for season upon season and they are all so robust. They are all on 200 games for Saracens or thereabouts. Other lads like myself are the complete opposite.
“The best run in my career was getting through to April with a few two-week, three-week niggles. Then I tore my lat off. The reality is that it’s not through lack of anything. I did everything I could. It’s luck. Some get it, some don’t.”
Last season encompassed constant monitoring and management of Fraser’s workload in training. He takes that as a symbol of immense loyalty.
Enough players respond readily to medical treatment that a time frame can be anecdotally attributed by punters to any given ailment. Hamstring strain? Four to six weeks. ACL tear? Nine months. Fraser personifies aspects of pain management we do not see. But he would not change a thing.
“I still get pretty sore now,” he says. “Sleep isn’t amazing due to aches and pains. At the same time, I never complain because I got them doing what I love to do and they were part and parcel of it. You can’t want to play rugby and then moan about getting injured. Without getting too cliched, you sign up for the consequences when you sign up for the game. I’d do it 10 times over. Since I was a kid, everything was geared towards this and I’ve had an incredible time.”
The same resolve that laces these words drove Fraser to the
‘You can’t want to play rugby and then moan about getting injured. You know the consequences’
highlight of rugby life when, over a fortnight in May 2016, Saracens won the Premiership and Champions Cup double. Fraser started both finals and inspired his side, except in the last moments of the European decider. “I lost the plot with 90 seconds left. Owen slotted the penalty to put us 21-9 ahead. We had to play the restart, but I was crying. Jackson screamed at me to sort myself out. But then we kicked the ball out and it was just hysteria. It was awesome.”
On the day Fraser announced his retirement to the Saracens staff, Wray, George and Mark Mccall spoke before him. Fraser required “five minutes staring at the wall” to compose himself, but then delivered thanks to everyone, from team-mates to medical personnel. “I probably kept them in a job for six or seven years,” he jokes.
Younger brother Henry, paralysed in a swimming accident in 2009, ensures Fraser and his family retain an “instinctive perspective”. Still, just as Saracens rallied around his sibling – Henry was honoured with opening Allianz Park and has been a regular presence around the club – they stand in solidarity with Will.
Alongside coaching defence at Amersham and Chiltern RFC, Fraser has taken over from Neil de Kock in running The Saracens Way, a programme aiming to provide professional insights into how the club operate.
Spreadsheets, invoicing and emails may be unnatural for now – and “nothing can compare to running out in front of a crowd with fireworks going off ” – but Fraser is grateful to contribute beyond the game-time his body allowed him. That said, one story from this new role does encourage some final reflection. On Tuesday, Fraser drove to Saracens’ St Albans training base.
He intended to say hello and stay to do some work. “I had my work bag with me – some satchel thing I’ve bought. I had to keep it in the car. I couldn’t risk getting shot down for it.
“Senior players always said it was turning up in the morning they missed the most. I was always surprised nobody said rugby. But it is entirely those things – doing what you love with the people you love. It’s coming in in the morning, getting gyp for a new haircut. As I’ve said to the boys, there’s no way of conveying all the positive thoughts I feel about them. This has been my home. And I love it.”