Rugby Australian legend Smith aims to keep playing beyond his 39th birthday
LEGENDARY flanker George Smith wants to play on next season, even though he’ll turn 39 in July.
Whether that will be at the Bristol Bears, the club he joined this summer, is still to be decided.
“I do have a personal target,” he told The Rugby Paper. “I started in 1999 and it would be nice to make that fourth decade, playing at least a few games in each because no professional has done that.”
Smith earned 111 international caps for Australia, making his debut in 2000 before finally bringing his career to a close in 2013, facing the British and Irish Lions in a second test series.
He said: “I’ve always enjoyed my rugby with all the teams I’ve been a part of and it’s great to play rugby for a living, so it’s not hard to find the motivation to carry on.”
And when he does have to draw a line under his playing career for the first time Smith has acknowledged we would like to pursue coaching.
But the Australian international would not be drawn on whether his immediate future lies with Bristol, despite signing on for the rest of the season after originally coming in on a six-month deal.
He explained: “I had a short-term contract at Bristol but with with the way it was going, for me to extend shows the faith I have in the way we play the game and the people in the squad. It’s just for six months, so we’ll leave it there for now and see how things go.”
Smith has previously played club rugby for the Brumbies, Lyon, Queensland Reds, Stade Français, Toulon and Wasps.