Matt Banahan 'emotional at Premiership Hall of Fame induction
- Published
Matt Banahan is seventh on the Premiership's list of all-time try-scorers
Matt Banahan says he is emotional to have been selected for the Premiership Rugby Hall of Fame.
The Jersey-born winger scored 71 tries in more than 200 Premiership games for Bath and Gloucester.
He also scored four tries in 16 England games and played at the 2011 World Cup.
"It's quite an emotional thing. You don't play sport for these sorts of accolades, you play sport because you enjoy it, these things come as a bonus," Banahan told BBC Radio Jersey.
Banahan, along with former Saracens captain Brad Barritt and ex-Leicester hooker Tom Youngs will be inducted to the league's hall of fame during Saturday's Premiership final at Twickenham.
Having come up through the youth ranks at Jersey when the club was still an amateur side he first moved to London Irish's academy before joining Bath in 2006.
He spent 12 years at the Rec before moving to Gloucester in 2018 where he spent three seasons before retiring in 2021 as the Premiership's seventh-highest try-scorer.
He was part of the Bath side that won the 2008 European Challenge Cup and also featured as the club lose the 2015 Premiership final to Saracens.
"It's a bit surreal, at the end of the day I'm just a lad from St Brelade who was lucky enough to play rugby," he added to BBC radio Jersey.
"Looking back at those days when I was running around Les Quennevais playing fields with my parents and my brother and my friends, to think that tomorrow I'll be going to Twickenham and being inducted into the small group of players that are in that half of fame is something I'll enjoy."