James Hanks, the forward for the Aviva Premiership Rugby Football Union club the Exeter Chiefs, has been forced to call time on his career due to injury. The 29 year old failed to recover adequately from a neck injury and this led him to decide to hang up his boots prematurely.
The forward player suffered an injury to his neck while playing for the club during the club’s LV=Cup victory over Bath Rugby last month and after undergoing several tests, doctors have advised him to end his ten year career.
With the retirement of Hanks, the Chiefs have lost their third forward player this season to retirement with skipper Tom Hayes as well as hooker Chris Whitehead all calling time on their respective careers. James Hanks was a part of the Exeter Chiefs side that returned to the top flight back in 2010, having won the Rugby Football Union or RFU Championship.
Speaking about his career, Hanks said that he has a lot of memories but the Championship win on the night in Bristol was probably the pick of his career.
He stated that that was the night which changed everything for him and not just for the players and the fans but for the entire club as well.
Hanks went to add that on a personal note, he couldn’t have asked for more from his time with the club but he admitted he was disappointed having to end his career in such a way, an end which came a lot earlier than he had anticipated.
The forward made his debut for the Exeter Chiefs back in 2005 in the old National League One, after signing for the club after just finishing his studies at Exeter University and has made 192 appearances, scoring seven tries in the process as well.