FORMER Huddersfield and New Zealand Warriors forward Sam Rapira has been forced into early retirement after injuring his hand in promotion-chasing Toulouse’s defeat by Toronto on Saturday.

The 31-year-old Rapira, who was a member of the Kiwis’ World Cup-winning team in 2008, was due to hang up his boots at the end of the season, his first with the French club, but has now been ruled out of the rest of the campaign with his latest injury.

Rapira, who made 43 appearances for Huddersfield from 2016-17, missed the start of the Championship season with a wrist injury and was forced to sit out three months in the middle because of a bicep injury.

“I feel so sorry for him, it’s so sad,” said Toulouse coach Sylvain Houles.

“He didn’t want to finish his career that way and I feel so bad for him because he worked so hard to come back from two injuries already this year.

“He did that with one objective — to take Toulouse into Super League — and in the last five games he has been outstanding. I played him as a lock and he gave so much confidence to all the boys around him.

“I’m still so happy we brought Sam to the club. It has been a joy to coach him and the boys absolutely love him.

“I would have liked to have him a bit longer but his body is tired, which is a shame. He is an absolute legend.”