Jack Clifford retires

Jack Clifford has been forced to retire through injury. When he broke through he was as impressive as Itoje for me but every time he looked to be getting anywhere injury hit.

Pace, great technique and work rate, thought it would still be him and Burgess battling for blindside still.

Another what could have been guy with Simpson-Daniel and Rees.

Yeah saw that...such a shame..but theres been a few through the years.

James Forrester the Gloucester 8 comes to mind aswell...

Clifford uninjured and on form was an exceptional back rower. Could fill any of the 3 positions and was extremely talented with a real set of wheels. Outsprinting Scott Williams for his only international score is not something you'd imagine Billy V or Ben Morgan doing!

Sadly he's been injured far more than any pro player ought to be. It's a shame - he had more to offer for club and country without the injury issues. We certainly wouldn't have been scrambling for an 8 to replace Billy this year if he'd been available. I wish him well in his retirement.

Mr Bounce wrote:Clifford uninjured and on form was an exceptional back rower. Could fill any of the 3 positions and was extremely talented with a real set of wheels. Outsprinting Scott Williams for his only international score is not something you'd imagine Billy V or Ben Morgan doing!

Sadly he's been injured far more than any pro player ought to be. It's a shame  - he had more to offer for club and country without the injury issues. We certainly wouldn't have been scrambling for an 8 to replace Billy this year if he'd been available. I wish him well in his retirement.

To be fair, he has had some amazing ball carrying runs through the years...

Real shame but imagine it had been on the cards for a while, must admit he'd fallen completely off my radar

Extremely talented and dominant at u20s level like few have been before or since, so it's another "what if" for England, despite the success we have had with young back rows coming through.

GeordieFalcon wrote:

Mr Bounce wrote:Clifford uninjured and on form was an exceptional back rower. Could fill any of the 3 positions and was extremely talented with a real set of wheels. Outsprinting Scott Williams for his only international score is not something you'd imagine Billy V or Ben Morgan doing!

Sadly he's been injured far more than any pro player ought to be. It's a shame  - he had more to offer for club and country without the injury issues. We certainly wouldn't have been scrambling for an 8 to replace Billy this year if he'd been available. I wish him well in his retirement.

To be fair, he has had some amazing ball carrying runs through the years...

That he has - and I love a Morgan ball carry. However it was Clifford's out and out pace I was getting at - a forward out-speeding a centre does not happen that often. Interestingly he has retired with a 100% international win record.

Clifford was an ideal player for the Jones blueprint, and looking forward to how Eddie wants England to play over the next couple of years. Could easily have been England captain by now but his body just could not cope sadly.

Should have been JWC player of the year in 2013, but Wales' Sam Davies got the consolation prize.

Haskell and Hartley spoke at length on the injury problems on their recent podcast and Clifford's name came up.