LONDON Welsh skipper Tom May said his decision to retire from rugby at the end of the season was not influenced the club’s current plight in the Aviva Premiership.

The Exiles seem doomed after securing just one point from 13 games and are 20 points adrift at the bottom of the table.

But May says an ageing body rather, than a poor season, was behind the announcement.

“I’ve been thinking of retiring for some time and in the end my body was telling me it was time to give up,” said the former international centre, who will be 36 next month.

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“Playing the games was OK, but I was really struggling after training.

“This season hasn’t gone as we had hoped, but gaining promotion by beating Bristol in the play-offs gave us little time to prepare and recruit for the Premiership, compared with other clubs.

“If you are out of that league for a couple of seasons, you can lose touch and there has been such a big improvement in the standard that it’s been difficult to catch up.

“But there are no excuses, we just haven’t played well enough, although we will keep fighting until the end.

“I’ve enjoyed being part of a group led by (head coach) Justin Burnell, but I know for a fact that I can’t keep going for another year.”

May, who played twice for England against Argentina in 2009 as a 30-year-old, said the highlights of his career, in fact, came in club rugby.

He twice won the Tetley’s Bitter Cup during his ten-year career with Newcastle and then secured the Greene King IPA Championship last year in his first season after joining London Welsh from Northampton.

“Winning something with people you work with every day, is something special and I’ve managed to do that three times,” he said.

May said that Jonny Wilkinson, his teammate at Newcastle and All Black Sonny Bill Williams, with whom he figured at Toulon, were the best players he had played alongside.

After a 17-year career in rugby, May is staying in the game.

He works for Activate Management, who look after the interests of players, including England internationals Lee Dickson and Luther Burrell.

“I’ve also set up a company called Everything For Rugby, with the aim of helping clubs at grassroots level,” he said.

“I’d like to be remembered as someone who worked hard and gave all he had.”

Burnell said: “Tom is the perfect example of a professional rugby player.

“Our captain-relationship is one of the best I’ve had.”

Exiles take a break from the Premiership to visit Bordeaux-Begles in the European Challenge Cup tomorrow night.

“I’m looking forward to the trip to France,” said May.

“But it will be another tough game against a top-four team.”

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