British & Irish Lions players celebrate after Hugo Keenan scored the winning try during the second rugby union test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, July 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Wallabies hooker David Porecki retires from rugby

SYDNEY (AP) — Hooker David Porecki, who was a late injury withdrawal from Australia’s lineup for the third test against the British and Irish Lions last weekend, has announced his retirement.

Rugby Australia issued a statement Tuesday saying the 32-year-old Porecki, who sustained a heel injury last week, was retiring immediately and ending a career that included five seasons in Britain with Saracens and London Irish from 2015.

He returned to Australia and the New South Wales Waratahs ahead of the 2021 Super Rugby season, and made his test debut a year later in a win for Australia against England in Perth.

Porecki was part of Australia’s 2023 Rugby World Cup squad and became the 88th Wallabies captain after an injury to Will Skelton, leading the team in three of its four pool matches at the tournament. Two-time champion Australia was eliminated in the group stage for the first time ever at a Rugby World Cup, hastening a change of coaching staff and leadership.

Injury sidelined Porecki in 2024 but he returned to the Wallabies squad last month and started against Fiji in Australia’s first test of 2025.

His 21st and final test was at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on July 26, when the Lions clinched the three-test series with a contentious late try.

“Rugby has given me so much to be thankful for and has been such a massive part of my life for so long but it feels like the right time for me to turn the page and start a new chapter,” Porecki said in the Rugby Australia statement,

Australia’s list of injuries continues to grow just four tests in the international season, although there has been some positive news for the Wallabies with a potential return for Allan Ala’alatoa during the Rugby Championship.

Initially set to undergo shoulder surgery after sustaining an injury in Melbourne, Ala’alatoa is instead back in Canberra completing intensive rehab in the hope of rejoining the Wallabies for the four-nation tournament.

The 31-year-old prop is expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks, giving him a chance of returning for the Sept. 13 test against Argentina in Sydney or the first match against New Zealand in Auckland two weeks later.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

Injured Australian players Allan Alaalatoa, left, and Rob Valetini,right, talks on the sideline during their captain’s run training session in Sydney, Australia, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, ahead of the rugby union test match against the British & Irish Lions, Saturday. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
The Australian team Iines up for the anthem before the start of the second rugby union test between Australia and the British & Irish Lions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, July 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

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