I WILL FIGHT TO STAY IN THE GAME
Gopperth faces uncertain future
JIMMY GOPPERTH faced up to the brutal reality of rugby’s cash crisis as he braced himself to join the jobless.
Gopperth has been a match winner for 20 years at the highest level of the club game, good enough to replace Jonny Wilkinson at Newcastle and Johnny Sexton at Leinster.
At Wasps he was Premiership player of the year while, in his one season at Leicester, he has helped the champions reach the play-offs.
Even at 39, the future should be rosy for a player approaching 500 top-flight appearances and 4,000 points. Yet the New Zealander is headed for a world of uncertainty.
At the end of a season in which two Premiership clubs have gone bust, the players made redundant at Worcester andWasps are being joined by a new wave from clubs unable to fit them inside the reduced £5million salary cap.
An average of 10 to 12 are going from each club and will be lost to the English top flight. Gopperth does not pretend the process is anything but painful.
“It is very difficult, I’m not going to lie,” said the fly-half, right, who has been released by Tigers and will leave at the end of the season.
“Rugby is not in a great place at the moment.
“I have never known a year when so many have retired, either because they can’t find jobs or they [salaries] have been slashed to such a level that they’re better off going 9-5 and building a new career.
“We’re privileged to be in this profession but for it to be cut short, based not on talent but salary, is really disappointing – especially when you see France and Japan doing alright and Ireland doing very fine.” Gopperth is a month-and-a-half away from achieving his goal of playing Premiership rugby past his 40th birthday and will not give up on his dream.
He has known his fate since late January but rather than let it affect his game he has taken the opportunity to show there is “plenty of fight” left in him. “I’m still looking to play, nothing’s changed,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that I can’t stay at Leicester but I’ve still lots to give. Age is just a number for me.
“The market at the moment is so saturated, which means there’s fewer opportunities. But if a team out there is keen to get me along I’m 100 percent in.” Gopperth’s team-mate Chris Ashton has had his red card overturned and been freed to rewrite the ending to his eventful career.
The former England wing, who retires this summer, was sent off on Saturday for a dangerous tackle on Harlequins wing Cadan Murley, which appeared to rule him out of Leicester’s post-season. However Tigers successfully argued that the offence was worthy of no more than a yellow card and Ashton can play in Sunday’s play-off semi-final at Sale. The panel were shown numerous angles of the tackle, many of which had not been available to referee Ian Tempest. Murley also testified that the initial contact was on his shoulder.