TOULON: All Black prop Carl Hayman has said he will retire from rugby at the end of the Top-14 season in France but is still hoping for an unlikely callup for New Zealand's World Cup squad.
The 35-year-old tight-head has been in France since 2010 and has played an integral part in Toulon's cash-fuelled drive to the forefront of European rugby.
But he has been sidelined by a succession of injuries of late, especially to his back and believes that the time is ripe to call it a day.
"I have enjoyed an exceptional career but I do not want to play on for a year too long," he said.
"There is life after rugby and I want to be able to continue playing with my kids in the garden.
"I do not want to be consigned to an armchair and unable to do anything.
"This season I have often played with a sore back and it is hard to imagine playing on for another 10 months."
Often cited as the best tight-head prop in the world, Hayman won the last of his 45 caps for the All Blacks in 2007 when he moved to Europe to play for Newcastle.
That ruled him out of the 2011 World Cup on home soil given the New Zealand Rugby Union's policy not to call-up players playing abroad.
But he says he has not yet given up on being given a callup for the All Blacks squad for this year's World Cup in England, adding that "talks are underway."
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