Adrian cashes in rugby career to join family

By JAMIE TROUGHTON
The sprigs and liniment have quickly given way to ties and aftershave - the next time Adrian Cashmore's involved in rugby could be when young son Ollie starts lacing his boots.
Cashmore has returned home from Wales after a back injury ended his illustrious playing career. The former All Black had to cut short a two-year deal with Ospreys, which he signed after leaving Bay of Plenty last year.
Now he, wife Kylie and 19-month-old Ollie are back in Tauranga permanently, with Cashmore joining the family firm as a real estate agent for Bayleys.
With three bulging discs in his back, there's no chance of him even playing club rugby again but he's remarkably at ease with his fate.
"It would have been nice to finish the rest of my contract," Cashmore said. "I was still really enjoying playing, although getting up each day to go to training was doing my head in a wee bit.
"My first reaction was that I couldn't play, so let's go home. But we stayed for a wedding in London and to be honest that was the best thing we could have done.
By the end of it I was ready to come back.
"There was a time when I was playing when I thought I'd like to get into coaching but I've had 15 years of fulltime rugby and it's probably time to step out of that circle.
"I've been given an incredible opportunity to find a place in the company - I'm still green as anything and it's almost like my first season back in rugby."
Cashmore's father Richard owns Bayleys, while brother Blair, also a former Bay of Plenty player, is a company auctioneer.
Cashmore managed 11 games for Ospreys at fullback, even managing a return to kicking duties, scoring 53 points.
But a training mishap, while wrestling with a teammate, left him completely lopsided and unable to straighten for the best part of 10 minutes.
Specialist advice suggested the problem could get worse if he tried to keep playing on it, so he pulled the pin.
"I sat down with Kylie and we reassessed things and decided to come back. We'd just found out that she was pregnant again so it actually worked out quite well - the timing was good."
He's picked the brains of former teammate and now Tauranga supermarket owner Robin Brooke on how best to manage the transition away from rugby, and has also spoken at length about it with former Black Cap Dion Nash.
Now he feels like he's in a good space to put rugby behind him.
"When I came back from Japan [in 2004], I was going to retire but I still wanted to play and when I started a bit of work it was a bit of a rude shock.
"This time, rugby's out of the system with no turning back because I can't actually play."