Former England, Leicester and Newcastle fly-half Toby Flood has retired from rugby union at the age of 36 – and will take up a coaching role at the Falcons.
Flood, who also had a successful three-year spell at French giants Toulouse, played 260 games combined for the Falcons and Tigers in English rugby.
He won 60 Test caps for England, featuring at two World Cups, and won three Premiership titles at Leicester.
“It’s still good to be around the boys,” Flood said of his new role.
“We had a conversation at the club about how best to move forward and we decided to go down the route of me working as a kicking and skills coach.
“It’s nice to have that transfer within the club and the other good thing is I’ve still got the university stuff going on in the background.”
Over his 18-year career, the Frimley-born, Morpeth-raised stand-off was one of the Premiership’s top playmakers – a player who was also useful in the centres, first with the Falcons and then in a Leicester side which routinely challenged for honours.
His haul of caps for England is an impressive one, but might have been even greater were it not for another ex-Falcons player in Jonny Wilkinson dominating the 10 shirt at Test level.
Like Wilkinson and other England internationals such as Nick Abendanon and Delon Armitage, Flood took the opportunity to experience the French Top 14 with Toulouse and, although unable to bring silverware to the Stade Ernest Wallon, he was a popular import.
He finished his career with hometown club Falcons – helping them to their highest finish, and Heineken Cup rugby, for the first time in 14 years in 2018. Flood then led them back to the top flight in 2020 after relegation, as well as finishing 12th in the all-time Premiership points scorers list.
Flood will continue his Masters studies for a degree in business at Cambridge University in addition to complementing the work of director of rugby Dean Richards and his coaching team of Dave Walder and Mark Laycock.
Richards added: “Toby can look back with great pride on an outstanding playing career for club and country.
“He has been in the very top bracket of English fly-halves for well over a decade, and will now add enormous value to us from a coaching perspective.
“He’s a very intelligent guy who understands the game incredibly well, so it’s fantastic news that he will remain at the club and be part of the exciting future that we’re all working towards.”
