Rangi Chase quits rugby league

Former England five-eighth and Super League Man of Steel Rangi Chase has quit rugby league at the age of 30.

Leigh owner Derek Beaumont confirmed Chase – who played 32 NRL games across three seasons with Wests Tigers and St George Illawarra – has been released just six months into a two-year contract.

Chase, who joined the Centurions following his sacking by Salford last October, spoke earlier this year of re-discovering his love for the game.

But he made just five appearances in the Kingstone Press Championship, the second tier of English rugby league.

Beaumont broke the news of Chase’s exit in his weekly column in the Leigh Observer, revealing that the player is set to pursue other interests away from the game.

Leigh, who this week signed former London Broncos playmaker Josh Drinkwater as a replacement, will retain Chase’s registration in the event of him returning to the game in the future.

“Rangi has struggled to settle in the Championship after being plagued by little niggling injuries that have stopped him from getting fully going,” Beaumont said.

“As he said when he joined us, he wanted to fall back in love with the game and do what he liked doing best which is playing rugby. Unfortunately that hasn’t been possible for most of the time.

“Rangi has an opportunity to do something away from the game and, having spoken to him at length, I had to agree it is probably the best thing for him at this stage, although I do hope that at some time in the future he returns to the game.

“He still has much to offer and I think a clean break for a sustained period, enjoying something completely different, will be just the tonic he needs to retrieve that desire, although it may be that he becomes so happy he has played his last game.”

Chase was at the height of his game in 2013, when he was crowned Super League’s Man of Steel and played for England in the World Cup.

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