Nick Easter retires to concentrate on coaching duties with Harlequins

Former England international Nick Easter has announced his decision to retire from his playing career in order to become a full-time defence coach at Harlequins.

The 37-year-old was assigned the coach-player role in April with the Quins and had earlier intended to play the upcoming season for the English Premiership club. However, the Harlequins number-8 felt that taking the dual role was tough on him and has decided to continue as the defence coach.

It was in 2001, Easter made his professional rugby debut with Orrell and after a four-year stint with the club, he decided to join the Harlequins. After representing the club for 12 years, Easter has gone on to play over 250 games, including 184 Aviva Premiership games during which he scored 24 tries.

"Having accepted the opportunity to become a coach-player by (director of rugby) John Kingston, I took some time to think about my career," Easter said.

"I realised that whether I'm playing or coaching, there was no possible way that I would be able to give 100 per cent to both of my roles at the same time.

"I thought, why not grab the opportunity of becoming a coach with both hands, give it my best shot and feel privileged to be in a position to go out on my own terms after 12 great years as a player for Harlequins?

"I'm a few weeks into my role now and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Having had five weeks in the off-season to finalise it and four weeks now as a coach, I don't regret my decision. I can't wait for the new season to begin."

Easter made his debut for England in 2007 and last played for his country during the 2015 World Cup encounter against Uruguay. He has also captained the red rose team and has been part of three World Cups during his career.

After sidelined by former England coach Stuart Lancaster, Easter returned back to the national fold following his prolific run for the Harlequins in the 2014-15 season. However, he was kept out of contention by the current coach Eddie Jones.

Director of rugby at Harlequins John Kingston lauded the contribution of Easter to the club in the last 12 years and is confident of him achieving further success in his new role as full-time defence coach.

"Nick has been an unbelievable servant to the Harlequins team for over a decade," Kingston said.

"He has been at the very heartbeat of all the successes the side has achieved over this period.

"Nick has a fantastic rugby brain and it is for this reason I offered him the opportunity to join the new look coaching team at the Club.

"Both Nick and I have agreed it is in the best interests of Quins that he focuses on his coaching exclusively from now.

"While a Quins team without him may seem strange at first, his influence on the group will, if anything, be even greater in his new role as first XV defence coach."