Eaton out for rest of season

Wellington - Force scrumhalf Chris Eaton said on Wednesday he will sit out the rest of the Super Rugby season following the death of his wife in a car accident in his native New Zealand.

The former Hurricanes player was with the Perth-based outfit on a short-term contract when his wife Hannah was killed in a car crash on March 30.

Eaton, 29, said his rugby career was on hold for the immediate future as he concentrates on caring for his four-year-old daughter Layla at their North Island home.

"I've told the Force I won't be coming back," he said in an interview with Women's Day magazine. "At least for this year, we'll stay here, it's too hard to move away with the support here."

Eaton said he was in Sydney preparing for his Force debut against the Waratahs when team officials told him about the crash and he immediately travelled back to New Zealand to be with his daughter.

"I couldn't figure out what was going on. I thought I'd been busted for something because it was game day," he said.

"We walked downstairs silently and they told me what had happened. I just broke down. It was a tough flight. I cried the whole way home with my shades on."

Eaton tweeted last month that he had received numerous messages of support from the rugby community after the accident.