By Duncan Wood
June 10 2002

Jason Little has made several comments recently hinting that he may have played his last game for Bristol and could well retire. It's been a long, hard season and I hope that his comments are simply down to weariness and that we'll see him back next season.

Jason arrived last summer on a 2 year deal after an up and down few months at Gloucester. After a dream debut when he scored 2 tries against Bristol (!), he and the Gloucester public didn't really get on and he seemed happy to move to Bristol.

His role hasn't been easy at Bristol. He has had to provide the experience in what has, at times, been a pretty young and inexperienced backline. He has also had to play a phenomenal amount of games this season - he and Alex Brown started more games than anyone else.

He has admitted in the last few days that he is thinking of stepping down as a player primarily because he's shattered but also because he does not want to stand in the way of some of Bristol's talented young backs.

"I've played in some 35 games this season, so it has been a long hard season. We have some extraordinarily talented young players in the Bristol squad and I wouldn't want to stand in the way of their development. So now may be the right time for me to hang up my boots."

Quotes along these lines have appeared in various publications in the last few days and Jason said something similar when he was interviewed by Sky after the final on Saturday.

I interviewed him recently and he admitted that the season had been tough both mentally and physically but that it had been a very satisfying one. He was also very keen to get home to Australia to join his wife who is due to give birth to their first child in about 3 weeks.

Jason has hinted that he may well feel different after a few weeks of rest. It has been a very intense month for Bristol and he's been under a lot of pressure as the skipper. Everyone wants an interview, everyone scrutinises his every move and comment.

I sincerely hope that he does come back. He has done a great job for Bristol this year. The development of players like Andrew Higgins and Phil Christophers has been there for all to see and it's down to Jason in no small part for the job he's done in training and in matches.

The club needs some continuity. We've made some great strides recently and look very well placed for next season. We can do without losing the skipper, particularly someone of the class of Jason Little.

He's been a great influence on and off the field. He's been a leader and an ambassador and the Bristol public would be very sad to see him go.