Ross Batty: Bath hooker to retire this summer after neck injury

Ross Batty (centre) only featured once in the Premiership this season, against Newcastle in November

Bath hooker Ross Batty will retire from playing professionally at the end of the season after taking medical advice.

The 34-year-old sustained a neck injury before Christmas last year.

The former Newcastle Falcons and Rotherham Titans man joined Bath in 2010 and has made over 170 appearances for the Blue, Black and Whites.

"The situation is such where I can't really go again and it's a time where I have to accept it and move on," he told the club website.

"It would be massively risky to chance anything at this stage of my life and career.

"I'm totally at peace with retirement. I'm really looking forward to the future and what might come next for me."