Sam Warburton retires: After nine years of wear and tear, a true great bows out of the game - but not out of view

Warren Gatland had just named his British and Irish Lions team for the second Test against the All Blacks. After losing the first Test quite convincingly despite that try, the British media convened inside the NZ Post Building on Waterloo Quay in Wellington, discussing whether there was the slightest chance of a third Test decider and who would be on the first plane home when the inevitable defeat arrived.

Then Sam Warburton walked into the room. Recalled to the starting line-up in place of Peter O’Mahony, the flanker was named captain for their must-win clash inside the Cake Tin, having been a replacement for the first Test defeat in Auckland.

Fears of a series whitewash or the shambles that the New Zealand media had built up over the tour were quickly eased as Warburton spoke at great length of his and the team’s preparations and how the tour still had everything to play for. Hindsight undoubtedly reinforces his belief, but there was no hindsight needed that day as he conveyed his message so clearly and so elegantly that he had singlehandedly converted the many inside that room.

Two days later, the Lions won the second Test in what transpired to be one of the greatest series of rugby ever seen, with Warburton going on to lift the trophy alongside All Blacks captain Kieran Read as the series was shared. Sadly, that’ll be the last sight of Warburton as a world class rugby player.

A year and 10 days later, Warburton has undergone surgery on his neck and his knee, missed an entire season of rugby and attempted his latest comeback. It hasn’t worked. After returning to pre-season training earlier in the summer, Warburton quickly discovered that his body is no longer capable of doing what it used to – namely absorbing blow after blow in training in an effort to compete at the same level that he does so at the Cardiff Arms Park or the Principality Stadium or the Cake Tin.

A few weeks passed, and although there was no recurrence of his past injuries – and there have been no fewer than 20 major ones since his professional debut in 2009 – he knew that his time had come, albeit prematurely at the young age of 29.

"Unfortunately, after a long period of rest and rehabilitation the decision to retire from rugby has been made with my health and wellbeing as a priority as my body is unable to give me back what I had hope for on my return to training,” Warburton said upon the announcement of his retirement.

What followed was a series of tributes. ‘What a great player’, ‘a true Lions legend’, ‘Wales’ best ever’ were easily seen on social media, while his retirement got the big banner treatment on Sky Sports News – that doesn’t happen every day in rugby union. But among those who knew Warburton and had the pleasure of speaking to him through each of the last nine seasons, the sadness was seeing one of the good guys of the sport struck down when he should be in his prime.

At 29, Warburton should be leading Wales into their most important season of the Warren Gatland era as they look to win next year’s Rugby World Cup. Instead he had already gone through a dip in form due to his constant string of injuries, relinquished the captaincy to Alun Wyn Jones before last year’s Six Nations in a bid to rediscover it and decided to sit out the entire 2017/18 season in the hope of stretching his body to one last major tournament and possible redemption for the tackle in the 2011 Rugby World Cup semi-finals that earned himself a red card and sent Wales into the third-place play-off as opposed to the final.

But don’t let that detract from an incredible career, one that has what no other player can boast – two Lions tours as captain and a big fat 0 in the losses column. Martin Johnson is the only other man to have been selected as Lions captain twice, and where he couldn’t triumph in Australia, Warburton did just that in 2013 before maintaining his undefeated record in New Zealand last year.

Ever since he took the captaincy at the stunningly young age of 22, Wales have been knocking on the door of the world’s best sides. A famous Six Nations Grand Slam in 2012 was followed by the famous 30-3 demolition of England the following year in a night that clinched them the title for a second successive year and will not be forgotten for as long as Wales play rugby.

The trophies may have dried up since then but the personal accolades haven’t, with Warburton surpassing Ryan Jones as Wales’ most-capped captain with 49 of his 74 Test appearances involving him leading out the side.

After making the decision to retire earlier this month, Warburton will take some time to get used to life without rugby before beginning the “next chapter”, as he put it. Having made his punditry debut for the BBC during this year’s Six Nations, it’s highly likely that we’ll see him again sooner than you think, and for a player who has left such a positive mark on the game as much off the field as he has on it, that can only be a positive as he comes to living rooms near you in the near future.