DAVID PAICE admits his London Irish career surpassed all expectations after announcing he will be retiring from rugby at the end of this season.
The veteran hooker arrived at the Exiles in 2003 and has gone on to break the club’s appearance record, playing 288 games, many as captain, as well as winning eight senior England caps.
But he has decided that the two remaining fixtures this season will be his last before returning to Brisbane in his native Australia to be nearer to his family as his children prepare to begin school life.
“To be honest, I made the decision in my mind a little while ago,” Paice told The Wokingham Paper.
“I don’t think it’ll quite sink in until the end of the season but I’m looking forward to the next stage of my career and my life.
“It was family reasons more than anything else. I did actually promise my wife I’d retire when I was 32 so I’ve kept going for two more years after that!
“I still had another year on my contract so I’ve got to give a lot of thanks to London Irish for letting me leave a year early.
“London Irish means a lot to me and I’ve given a lot to them but it had to end at some time.”
After being offered the chance to train with the Irish academy when he 20, the forward progressed through the ranks and became a key figure of the side which reached European semi-final in 2008, followed by the Premiership final in 2009.
And now aged 34, he admits his plans had been very different when he arrived in England.
“My first thoughts when I came over here was originally to only play for a year before going back to Australia,” Paice explained.
“But I loved my time over here and I stayed and met a lot of good people that I’ll remain good friends with for the rest of my life.
“I’ve absolutely loved my time over here.
“I didn’t expect I’d be over for so long, but I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”
He added: “My favourite game was the European semi-final against Toulouse in 2008.
“It was a great atmosphere at Twickenham, Toulouse at the time were one of the best teams in Europe and we really pushed them hard and I think we could’ve won towards the end.
“Toulouse had a lot of great French players in the team at that time that I really looked up to. For one game that stands out it’s probably that one.”
Attention now turns to this Sunday’s clash with Saracens at Madejski Stadium (3pm), where Paice will run out in front of the home crowd for the final time.
The outlook appears bleak for the Exiles, nine points adrift at the foot of the table with just 10 points left to play for.
But with second-bottom Worcester Warriors in action on Saturday, Irish could be officially relegated before they take to the field against Saracens on Sunday.
So Paice is focussing on producing a good performance for the fans rather than worrying about the league standings.
“The table doesn’t look good for us,” he admitted.
“But it’s our last home game and there are different people leaving, we won’t have the same side next year which is natural in any rugby club.
“Not just for me, but for the rest of the guys that are leaving, I think it’s important for them to give a good showing for their last game with London Irish and thank London Irish for everything they’ve done.
“But also the fans for supporting us through this difficult season and just for ourselves really.”
He added: “We haven’t played to our ability throughout the season, especially in the first half of the season.
“I think we’re showing now that we are good enough to be this level, it’s just the way the first six months went has probably been the killer for us.
“So it’s probably as much to prove for ourselves that we do belong in this league and getting a result against one of the best teams in Europe would go a long way to doing that.
“If the table falls our way, it’s something we can’t control but if we can get it down to the last week, anything can happen.”
A brilliant win over Harlequins earlier this month gave the Exiles hope of an unlikely survival, only for a resounding 45-5 defeat against Exeter Chiefs at the Mad Stad last time out to leave them back on the brink.
And Paice admits Irish struggled to adapt to life in the Premiership following promotion back in May.
“We had a great win on the opening day but I think we got caught a little bit in the difference between the Premiership and the Championship,” he said.
“I don’t think we were quick enough in picking up those differences.
“That then culminated in a loss of confidence as well.
“Just as winning becomes a habit, I think losing becomes a habit.
“We lost a lot of close games at home that we should’ve won and I think if we did win a couple of those games, I think we’d be looking very different.
“Confidence plays a huge part in rugby.
“We had a few different injuries at different stages to key players as well but at the end of the day, we haven’t been good enough.”
He added: “It’s been a disappointing season in some aspects but I’m proud of how the guys have stuck together, especially these last three or four months we’ve shown we belong at this level of competition.
“I know I won’t be there but if we do go down to the Championship, hopefully a lot of the guys stay with London Irish and we can get straight back up and we can build from there.”
LONDON IRISH XV: Tonks, Cokanasiga, Fowlie, J. Williams, Lewington, Brophy Clews, van Zyl, Franks, Paice (c), Hoskins, McNally, van der Merwe, Schatz, Cowan, Treviranus.
Reps: Porecki, Elrington, Du Plessis, De Chaves, Basham, Steele, McLean, Tikoirotuma.
