Keith Wood says he got an offer to play in France after he retired.
The former Ireland captain was speaking to Off The Ball about the idea of taking mid-career hiatuses in rugby.
Keith's Ireland career lasted from 1994 to 2003 and yielded 65 caps
"That's one of the few regrets I have is that when I was in the midst of a couple of big operations and looking at my career coming towards an end, I retired at 31 years of age. I was right to retire when I did and the hiatus - the only person I'd ever seen take a hiatus in my time was Joe Roff in Australia - but I think I would have liked that. A couple of years afterwards I said, 'God, imagine if I'd a couple of years out or a year out, would I have been able to play on or would I have been able to have a good influence and do well and win more and all that sort of stuff?'"
But as Keith added, it was a "bit of a moot point".
"I'd retired and I did get an offer a couple of years after retiring, 'did I want to go back and play in France' and at that stage my body had given up the ghost really," he said.
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