Speedster Rhule forced to retire with Achilles injury

Former Springbok winger Raymond Rhule has been forced to end his stellar career due to medical reasons.

Rhule, who with fellow South African winger Dillyn Leyds form a potent partnership for French Top 14 club La Rochelle, has struggled to recover from an Achilles heel injury and according to French newspaper L’Equipe has been forced to call it a day.

Rhule suffered the Achilles injury last August and was scheduled to be out for five months, but since then that timeline has been extended and he hasn’t make it back onto the field.

The 32-year old, who played seven tests for the Springboks in 2017 and represented the SA under-20 side as well, was born in Ghana, but qualified through citizenship for the Springboks.

He made his debut against France in 2017, but scored his first try for the Springboks in a tense test match against Argentina in Port Elizabeth.

Rhule made his mark for the Free State Cheetahs, where he was a prolific try-scorer, but then moved to the Stormers, where he only had 15 caps. A subsequent move to Grenoble had mixed fortunes before arriving at La Rochelle and fitting coach Ronan O’Gara’s game plan to a tee.

While at La Rochelle, he was clocked to run at 38km/h at full speed, and was a crowd favourite after scoring his side’s first try in the 2022 Champions’ Cup final against Leinster, where La Rochelle won the trophy against the odds. 

He won two Champions’ Cup trophies with La Rochelle, scoring 15 tries for the club in his time there.