This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
Canada: 
Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
Barkwill, 38, has been a constant Canadian player as hooker. Coach Kingsley Jones estimates that of the 61 or 62 Canada matches since Barkwill's debut, the hooker played in 55 of them.
"It just reflects on his attitude never to give the other guy another chance," Jones said. "Because once he got that jersey, he didn't want to give it up." He still doesn't.
But doctors have convinced him it's time to retire in the wake of a brachial plexus injury — a nerve condition — sustained at the Rugby World Cup qualifying tournament last November in France.
Barkwill has not played since and says doctors have told him it is too dangerous to keep playing rugby. As a result, he announced his retirement from Rugby.
"Every time I put on the Canadian jersey I get emotional and I can say that I never took it for granted," Barkwill said in a statement issued by Rugby Canada. "I hope that I have left the jersey in a better place than when I first received it."
In the wake of the November injury, Barkwill noticed he was having issues putting his left hand in his pocket and holding things. That led to MRIs, CAT scans and a series of meetings with doctors and specialists.
This is not the end of Bartwell as wants to take up coaching.
Be the first to comment