Former All Black Jason Eaton retires

Former All Black lock Jason Eaton announced that he will retire from rugby at the end of the season as he struggles to recover from concussion.

Eaton, 35, suffered the injury playing against Clermont early last month and has taken the decision to retire because his condition is "not really improving as much as I'd like".

"It's obviously not the planned finish I wanted," Eaton told a press conference at his club on Thursday.

"But that's the nature of the sport. I can't control injuries... because I'm retiring I'll put more importance on my brain because I'm going to need it pretty soon.

"It's pretty easy to run around a rugby field without a brain, but to work in an office or whatever it is, it's pretty important."

Eaton, who made his name while playing for the Hurricanes in Super Rugby, also played in Japan with Shining Arcs before joining La Rochelle in 2014, going on to become the French side's captain.

La Rochelle finished in the top six of the 14-strong league for the first time last season and qualified for their first European Champions Cup before losing in the quarter-finals to Welsh side Llanelli Scarlets.

Eaton made his test debut for the All Blacks in 2005 having not played a single Super Rugby match for the Hurricanes before then. He went onto represent his country a further 17 times before leaving the country at the end of the 2013 season.