Wales news
Wales hooker forced to retire
ESPN Staff
June 26, 2013
Hooker Huw Bennett on the charge for Wales, England v Wales, Twickenham, England, August 6, 2011
Huw Bennett in action for his country - he played 51 internationals, starting 23 of them © Getty Images
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Wales hooker Huw Bennett has announced his retirement after three operations failed to cure an Achilles tendon problem.

Bennett, 30, played 51 times for his country, the last time against Scotland in February 2012 when he picked up the injury. At the end of 2011-12 he moved from Ospreys to Lyon but he never played for his new club.

"You've got to face it for what it is; a career-ending injury," he said. "It's just time to look forward and look ahead to what life brings now."

He had two small operations after sustaining the injury and was able to pass the medical with Lyon but it soon became apparent after arriving there were more serious problems.

"I went there hoping to be running within three weeks of pre-season," he said. "It got the point where the season had started and I was still in the rehab room. That's when Lyon then re-investigated and the decision then was to take a more intensive kind of operation, with a six-to-eight month recovery."

But when that did not work, Bennett decided to retire rather than face more surgery which did not come with any guarantee of success.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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