What became of the Welsh rugby stars forced to quit by the time they were 30

Welsh rugby will say goodbye to one of its greatest servants at the end of the season after Cardiff flanker Ellis Jenkins announced his retirement.

Jenkins, who played 15 times for his country and captained them on four occasions, bows out as a Blue & Blacks hero, having led them to Challenge Cup glory in 2018 and made 147 appearances to date. However, the 30-year-old will likely always be regarded as one of the great 'what ifs' of Welsh rugby, after a serious knee injury suffered against South Africa in 2018 changed the trajectory of his rugby career.

Sidelined for more than two years, he remarkably battled back to make a further 43 club appearances and win four more Wales caps - notably captaining the side in their win over Australia in 2021. But Jenkins, who will be 31 come the end of the season, has now decided that "it feels like the right time" to hang up his boots.

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While he may always wonder what might have been if he hadn't picked up that injury against the Springboks, the back rower can at least be thankful to have reached that 30-mark. Many Welsh players have seen their careers end in their 20s over the years and while the likes of Jack Dixon and Hallam Amos have chosen to bow out on their own terms, it is more often down to injuries and cruel twists of fate.

However, these players have not let those setbacks define them and now have new careers in everything from punditry and coaching to construction and TikTok fame. Here's what happened next for the Welsh stars whose rugby playing days came to a premature end.

Cory Allen

The six-cap Wales international hung up his boots at 29 following a three-year battle with a knee injury that saw him undergo four lots of surgery. Allen, who scored a hat-trick of tries against Uruguay at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, saw his career blighted by injuries, facing repeated setbacks with the Ospreys before he was forced to retire having not played a single game for the Dragons.

Now 31, he has moved into a very different field, working for surveying firm Chandler KBS in Penarth. Meanwhile, his younger brother Mason Grady has followed in his footsteps, making his Wales debut last year before featuring at the Rugby World Cup in France.

Scott Otten

The Ospreys hooker was forced into retirement aged 26 after suffering a career-ending neck injury against the Dragons in January 2021, describing the decision to hang up his boots on medical advice as "gut-wrenching and cruel".

However, a year later he took up a new role as the Ospreys' regional commercial manager. Otten is also managing director of SO Coffee, which he set up in March 2017.

Sam Warburton

The former Wales and Lions captain stunned world rugby when he announced his retirement in summer 2018. Warburton was forced to admit his tiring body could no longer cope with the demands professional rugby as he finished at the age of 29, having undergone neck and knee surgery.

Since retiring, he has made a name for himself as a widely-respected pundit for the BBC, while he has also published his autobiography and worked briefly under Wayne Pivac as Wales' breakdown technical adviser. He also established the SW7 Academy in 2019 to enable amateur rugby players to have access to world-class strength and conditioning programmes.

Lloyd Burns

He went from being a bricklayer and part-time rugby player to becoming a Wales international in a matter of months and went on to play at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

But Burns' career ended as quickly as it took off, with damage to an artery in his neck leading the Dragons star to call it a day at the age of 27. After retiring from rugby, he returned to bricklaying and now runs Lloyd Burns Building Services in Torfaen.

Eli Walker

The Ospreys winger was tipped for Wales honours, but injuries always kept him from fulfilling his potential. He did manage to pull on that famous red jersey on just one occasion, making his only Wales appearance in a 2015 World Cup warm-up match against Ireland.

However, three years later, at the age of 25, he was forced to admit defeat in his battle with injuries, having failed to recover from back surgery. He has certainly kept busy in retirement, however, as he moved into boxing and won the Box Cup Western division title as a cruiserweight last year.

After picking up a master’s degree from Cardiff Met University, he also launched his own construction company.

Jack Condy

Scarlets back-rower Condy was forced to hang up his boots on medical advice aged just 23, having battled a chronic knee injury for his final few seasons in rugby.

After retiring in 2018, he worked as a self-employed electrician and began coaching with his former youth club Penallta RFC. In 2021, he landed a job with the Dragons Academy as a skills coach.

Adam Hughes

The former Dragons centre was forced to retire in 2018 due to a brain injury. Hughes, then just 28, had received medical advice that brain trauma scars from rugby injuries meant that continuing in the sport "wasn't an option".

He is one of the hundreds of players to take legal action against World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union, and the Welsh Rugby Union for alleged negligence. In 2020, he told WalesOnline about the harrowing reality of living with a brain injury, admitting he can only recall "a handful" of memories from his career.

Ben John

The Ospreys back retired in January 2019 at the age of 27, having taken a year out of the game after a number of head injuries. His last appearance on a rugby pitch was a Boxing Day encounter with the Scarlets, when he suffered his third brain injury that year.

After it became clear he couldn't return to the sport he loved, he hung up his boots and focused on his career as a personal trainer, setting up an online rugby academy alongside former Ospreys team-mates Rhys Webb and Ashley Beck. Under the name 'The Rugby Trainer', he has grown a sizeable following online and gets millions of views a month on TikTok. You can read more about that here.

Harry Robinson

Having been forced to retire at the age of 23 in 2016 through a neck injury, Robinson went on to set up his own practice - Harry Robinson Wealth Management - dealing with mortgages, protection, pensions and investments, in conjunction with St James’ Place.

“I had always been interested in property and how mortgage rates and interest rates work," explained the three-cap Wales international at the time. “So I knew the path I wanted to go down, but I didn’t realise it would happen so quickly."

Owen Williams

The four-cap Wales international was left paralysed from the chest down and wheelchair-bound after a freak incident while playing for Cardiff Blues in the World Club Tens in Singapore in 2014.

The Stay Strong for Ows foundation was set up after his injury and the former Blues centre has been involved with fundraising ever since in a bid to help players in a similar situation to him. In 2020, six years after his injury, Williams revealed he was to become a dad.

Ben Lewis

The Ospreys flanker was forced into early retirement after a neck injury against Aironi in September 2010. He attempted to make a return to rugby but eventually had to give up on his dreams in March 2011, aged just 24.

After retiring, he found a new job as a Health Support Officer with BlueBay Medical Systems in Swansea.

Rhun Williams

A heroic try-saving tackle against Zebre in 2018 ultimately cost the talented Cardiff full-back his career, as he suffered left-sided peripheral nerve damage in the contact. The former U20s Grand Slam winner, who was called up to the Wales senior squad in 2017, underwent two years of extensive rehabilitation but was ultimately advised to stop playing by experts.

Ashley Smith

The former Newport Gwent Dragons captain was forced to pack in rugby in 2015 following multiple concussions. Smith, who represented Wales at U16 up until U20 level, later moved into sales for Estuary Oils, a fuels and lubricants distributor..

Matthew Pewtner

The ex-Dragons winger was another who was forced to retire through concussion in 2016. Just 25 when he hung up his boots, Pewtner moved into teaching and even starred on TV show Don't Tell the Bride before leaving for Dubai to carry on his teaching career.

He has since spent four years with the Dubai Hurricanes rugby team, initially as an attack coach before becoming Director of Rugby. In 2021, he took up a new role as a coach with the UAE Rugby Federation.

Rory Watts-Jones

Another victim of concussion, former Cardiff Blues flanker Watts-Jones retired in 2015 at the age of 26, leaving him "devastated". After hanging up his boots, he took his coaching badges, helping out with Cardiff U18s but now runs a construction business.

Morgan Stoddart

The former Scarlets man saw his career end in heart-breaking fashion as he suffered a horrific leg break during a World Cup warm-up game against England in 2011, from which he never recovered. The twist of fate was particularly cruel as he was just beginning to establish himself within Warren Gatland's squad and was not even meant to be starting the game that would prove to be his last.

He retired in 2013 but was later diagnosed with testicular cancer, before thankfully getting the all clear. Having coached with the Dragons U18s side and Cross Keys, he then worked as Chris Hitt's assistant with the Poland national team.

Rhys Thomas

Then 29, the former Wales international prop suffered a massive heart attack during training with the Scarlets in 2012 and underwent an emergency quadruple heart bypass that saved his life. He was fitted with an LVAD (left ventricular assist device) pump and didn't wake up for two weeks after his operation.

When he did, he struggled to come to terms with his new way of living and he battled alcohol addiction as his mental health deteriorated. He later admitted to years of drug-taking while he was playing for Wales, but after spending a month in rehab, he is now living a life of sobriety and working as a speaker and mentor with his charity Tidybutt.