The most capped rugby sevens player of all time James Rodwell will retire from professional rugby at the end of the 2018/19 season.
In January this year Rodwell broke the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series appearance record by playing his 90th tournament in Hamilton, overtaking New Zealand’s DJ Forbes who had featured in 89 by the time he had retired.
Rodwell became England Sevens’ most capped player when ran out for the 71st time at the Cape Town Sevens in December 2016 where his team defeated South Africa in the Cup final to win gold.
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At the 2014 Hong Kong Sevens, Rodwell had reached 50 consecutive World Series appearances and he went on to set the record number of consecutive appearances of 69 two years later at the 2016 Singapore Sevens.
He was a pivotal member of the Team GB squad for the Rio 2016 Olympics where rugby sevens made its Olympic debut, scoring two tries to help his side take home the silver medal.
As well as featuring in the Delhi 2010 and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Rodwell was part of England’s bronze medal success at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018 where they defeated South Africa.