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BRISBANE - A knee injury has ended the controversial career of former New Zealand Warriors and Australian test prop Richard Villasanti.
Villasanti, 27, who was the victim of a smear campaign on the 2003 Kangaroo tour, failed to recover from knee surgery and quit without playing a game for new club Harlequins in the English Super League.
Dubbed "Villa the Gorilla", he never recaptured the form that earned him a sole 2003 test cap after the controversial Kangaroo tour.
The Canberra-bred frontrower did not speak publicly about the tour until almost three years later, in August, 2006, when he was about to make his Sharks debut. He denied stealing more than A$5000 ($5642) from teammates' rooms, saying the innuendo that he was the culprit hurt him deeply.
Playing for the Warriors at the time, Villasanti had been something of an outsider on the tour and had been mentioned in many circles - though never officially - as the likely thief.
An investigation by the Australian Rugby League did not determine who the thief was but Villasanti said last year "mud sticks - it has ever since".
The hard-hitting prop moved from the Sharks to England in February while still recovering from the knee operation.
He passed a medical and was named in the Harlequins squad several times - but never took the field after failing to respond to rehabilitation.
Villasanti made his first-grade debut for Balmain in 1999 but made his name with the Warriors, helping them reach the 2002 NRL final, and was rewarded with Kangaroo tour selection.
But after five seasons at the Warriors, he fell out of favour with the NRL club.
The Sharks snapped him up but he only lasted the rest of the 2006 season before being signed by Harlequins as a replacement for another controversial forward, former Bulldog Solomon Haumono.
Harlequins were devastated that Villasanti had been forced to retire after initially being told by medical staff that he would play four to six weeks after his arrival in February.
"The club would like to commend Villa on the outstanding way he has conducted himself in the club during this difficult time," a Harlequins statement said.
"It is never easy for a player with such talent not to be able to do the job he asks of himself.
"The end of a career at such a young age is a particularly hard thing to accept.
"With the support of his family, he has done so manfully. We wish him all the best in the future."
- AAP
