George Chuter announces retirement

Leicester and former Saracens hooker George Chuter has announced his retirement from the game with immediate effect.

Chuter, capped 24 times for England, previously held the record for Aviva Premiership appearances before Steve Borthwick passed that mark this weekend.

The 37-year-old's contract was due to expire in the summer and he has played 292 matches in all competitions for Leicester, including seven Premiership finals at Twickenham.

He appeared in the 2007 World Cup final for England and has now decided to call it a day.

"I've not really been able to sit back and reflect until now," Chuter said.

"Now I can finally get a bit of perspective and think about how long I've played the game, how many matches and how many training sessions I've been involved in.

"To play nearly 300 games for Leicester and 100 for Saracens before that, plus 40 for England at various levels, gives me great pride.

"I get great satisfaction, too, from the knowledge that I've turned up for work every day and tried to get better and tried to help my team-mates get better too.

"It's not just about the rugby, it's being part of the group with some really good mates before and after training."

Chuter played for Saracens between 1996 and 2000 before moving to Leicester, where he scored 14 tries.