One-cap Wallaby’s emotional social media post confirms ‘this is the end’ for his playing career

Lawrence Nolan
Ollie Hoskins Saracens

Saracens' Ollie Hoskins has called time on his playing career

Former Wallabies prop Ollie Hoskins has announced his retirement as a rugby player at the age of 32.

The emergency 2021 pick for Dave Rennie’s UK-touring Australian squad has spent the last two seasons at Saracens following the collapse of London Irish.

However, with just three games remaining in the 2024/25 Gallagher Premiership regular season, the front-rower has taken to social media to confirm he is hanging up the boots on a career that began at Western Force.

Hoskins hasn’t played for Saracens since a Premiership Rugby Cup appearance on February 1 and 13 weeks on from that last outing, he has now revealed he is finished as a player. He wrote: “I don’t know where to start. But I know this is the end. All I can say is thank you. Thank you to everyone who’s supported me throughout my career.

“Rugby has been my life since I was a four-year-old boy. All I ever wanted to do was make it pro. I did it. I had signed jerseys of Western Force payers hanging on my wall. I played for them when I was just a 20-year-old kid. I did it.

“I came to London Irish lost, and found a home. Those seven years were the best of my life. A day doesn’t go by where I don’t think ‘what if’. I managed to play almost 170 games for the club. It meant everything to me. I wish we could’ve done more. I did it.

“I have the jersey and cap hanging on my wall…”

“Saracens took me in when the rug was pulled from under me. And for that, I am so thankful. I played alongside some of the best players in the world. I did it. I told my dad when I was six: ‘I want to play for the Wallabies’. I have the jersey and cap hanging on my wall. That will be with me forever. #949. I fucking did it.”

In a follow-up message, Hoskins added: “I’ve had so many messages across all the platforms I’ve posted on, and too many questions about my decision to retire, to answer individually. I am thinking of bringing back the podcast I started after Irish went under. If I get enough questions, I’ll do it.”

Hoskins’ selection by the Wallabies in 2021 was headline news, his call-up coming at a time when Rugby Australia had just begun to ease the restrictions of their ‘Giteau Law’ that meant overseas players needed to have a minimum of 60 Test caps and/or seven seasons of Super Rugby experience to represent Australia.

The easing of this restriction resulted in Hoskins getting drafted into Rennie’s squad as training cover for Taniela Tupou after featuring in a draw for London Irish at Saracens the previous weekend. He was quickly named on the Wallabies bench for the tour match at Twickenham and came on to play the closing 12 minutes of that match versus England.

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