Ireland and Leinster flanker Dan Leavy has announced his retirement from rugby today at the age of 27 following medical advice.
Since 2019, Leavy has been dealing with a significant knee injury that initially left him out for 19 months, but further set backs and injuries has seen him rarely play since his return. He had appeared seven times for Leinster this season, many from the bench with his last appearance coming against Ulster last month.
In a short career Leavy achieved nearly all there is to achieve in rugby. He made his debut for Leinster back in 2014 having captained a star-studded St. Michael's school side alongside Ross Byrne, Ross Molony, Rory O'Loughlin and Josh Murphy.
He would go on to play for Leinster 79 times and won multiple Pro14 championships with Leinster and played a crucial part in 2018 when Leinster won the Heineken Champions Cup in Bilbao against Racing 92.
12 May 2018; Dan Leavy of Leinster following their victory in the European Rugby Champions Cup Final match between Leinster and Racing 92 at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao, Spain. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Leavy made his debut for Ireland during the November internationals in 2016 against Canada at the Aviva Stadium. He won 11 caps in total for Ireland and would be a crucial player once more in the 2018 Grand Slam winning side. He was also part of the successful side that went on tour to Australia that summer and won a test series against the Wallabies.
Dan Leavy Forced To Retire
However, he got a gruesome knee injury against Ulster in the 2019 Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final which would ultimately see him announce his retirement today.
Speaking on his career Dan Leavy told the Leinster website:
I am very proud of all that I achieved in my short time as a professional.
Some amazing highs with my brothers in blue and in green and I am beyond grateful for those days and those moments especially the highs of 2018 in Bilbao, the Aviva Stadium and Twickenham.
More than that I am proud of how I carried myself, in particular over the last few years, and I hope I represented my club, my country, my family and friends to the best of my abilities in those years. I am beyond grateful to them all for their support and in particular to my mum and dad, Eilish and Donal, my sister, Rachel, and my brother, Adam.
I am also very grateful to Leo Cullen. Leo has been an unbelievable support to me over the last few years. On the field, and off, and I cannot thank him enough.
Not many people get to enjoy and experience what I have over the last 10 years representing my school, my club and my country.
This is not the end I had hoped for, but as I look back, at the highs and the lows, they have all been shared with the best teammates, family and friends around me, and what more could I ask for?
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen added to that, saying;
While the public have seen very little of Dan since his injury, we have seen plenty of him in here and we have seen the same determination, character and drive that marked him out on the pitch as one of the best.
Dan has also received incredible support from his family and all the medical staff here along the difficult path of trying to return to playing.
It may have been a short career, but Leavy certainly made a big impact on Irish rugby and will definitely be missed.
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