Kelly Brown: Saracens and former Scotland back-rower to retire at end of season

Kelly Brown has made 164 appearances for Saracens

Saracens and former Scotland back-rower Kelly Brown will retire at the end of the season to become an academy coach.

Brown, who joined Saracens from Glasgow Warriors in 2010, has won three Premiership titles and last season's European Champions Cup with the club.

The 34-year-old was capped 64 times by Scotland, captaining the side on 14 occasions from 2012 to 2014.

"I've been incredibly fortunate I've got to do the job I love for 13 seasons," he told BBC Scotland.

"I'm still in good shape, so I could have carried on playing, but coaching is something I've been doing a lot of over the last couple of seasons.

"It's a fantastic opportunity and one I'm very excited about.

"I've thought about it from both sides. I've been involved in a lot of games, but I haven't been played a huge amount of minutes, so maybe I wouldn't be feeling as good physically if I had played more."

Saracens are third in the Premiership table with three games to play this season and face Munster in the Champions Cup semi-finals in Dublin on 22 April.

Brown looks back fondly at his time as Scotland captain and admits it has been frustrating watching from the outside in recent years.

"To be able to captain my country, I feel very lucky to have done that," he said. "I loved every minute I got to play for Scotland.

"You do feel slightly detached from it because it was something I was involved in for so long and I would loved to have been involved over the last few years.

"But that wasn't to be. I'm a Scotland fan and I've got a lot of friends in that team, so it's been great to see them flourish."