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Burger to retire after World Cup

Cape Town - Inspirational Namibia captain Jacques Burger has announced that this will be his last season in the game.

Burger, 32, revealed that he would retire from the international game after the 2015 Rugby World Cup and would almost certainly quit his English Premiership club, Saracens, at the end of the season.

Before then, though, the former Bulls loose forward, wants to complete two great ambitions for his country.

First, he cannot wait to line up against the New Zealand haka for the first time in his career, something he will achieve when he leads out his men against the All Blacks at the Olympic Stadium on September 24.

The other is to lead Namibia to their first victory in their fifth World Cup appearance, with the African side hoping to beat either Georgia or Tonga in Pool C.

“At the moment, the plans are that I’ll retire after this season. I think I’ll be retiring from all rugby but I might consider trying to get involved with defence coaching - and I’ve got the farm back home, which is always an option,” told the official Rugby World Cup website.

“So, after this World Cup, I’ll be retiring from international rugby. I think it will be the right time for me to finish and then I’ll focus for the rest of the season on my contract with Saracens. The club has been great to me, really loyal to me, so I’d like to finish my playing career there.

“I suppose you never know, after this year I might feel fresh and play one more year but I doubt it. So one of my great remaining ambitions is to win a World Cup match with Namibia.

“Playing against the All Blacks too will be great, I’ve never done that. But to win a match would be very, very special. The people back home would go absolutely mental!”

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