McCarthy: I considered quitting rugby before coming out as gay

“I agonised over my future and contemplated walking away from rugby altogether because I just didn’t think I could come out while playing rugby,” says McCarthy; scrum-half came out publicly on Monday having told Leinster coaches in November and team-mates in January

Last Updated: 21/06/22 7:23pm

Leinster scrum-half Nick McCarthy says he contemplated quitting professional rugby as he did not feel he could come out as gay while still playing.

The 27-year-old shared the news publicly on Monday having already come out to coaches Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster in November and his team-mates in January.

McCarthy said his experience has been “entirely positive”, describing the reaction of Cullen and Lancaster as “unbelievable”.

“I struggled with coming out for a while and it was starting to impact on me and my happiness so it was the right decision,” McCarthy told Leinster’s website.

“It affected me so much that I agonised over my future and contemplated walking away from rugby altogether because I just didn’t think I could come out while playing rugby.