Italian rugby icon Alessandro Troncon said Friday he was hanging up his boots at club level and looking to become a coach.
Troncon, Italy's most-capped player with 101 caps, had already announced his international retirement after Italy's defeat to Scotland that knocked them out of the World Cup last month.
The 34-year-old scrum-half, known to Italy's fans as 'Tronky', was expected to give it at one more year at his French club Clermont Ferrand.
But on Friday Troncon told La Gazzetta dello Sport he realised age had finally caught up with him.
"It's been hard to make up my mind but I realised I wouldn't be able to give what I wanted. I still love training but I've discovered my limits with age," he said.
Troncon, who played in four World Cups, has accepted a job on the Azzurri staff but is aiming to get a coaching badge from the Italian Rugby Federation.
"For now I can only offer my playing experience and I know that's not enough," said the down-to-earth battler from the northern Italian city of Treviso.
Asked about his autobiography, which will hit Italian bookstores later this month, he said simply: "It's my life, spent on a rugby field".
"In the beginning I was a bit iffy about the book idea, I suppose that's the way I am, but then I thought it might inspire some youngster".
Asked who would win the World Cup, he said: "France, I hope. It showed against the All Blacks that nothing is impossible".
France play England on Saturday while South Africa meet Argentina in the other semi-final Sunday.
In his record-breaking career for Italy the chunky scrum-half captained the team 20 times and scored 19 often-crucial tries.
He was a prime mover in Italy's drive to gain Six Nations status and stood out in six of its seven campaigns so far - missing 2004 because of a career-threatening knee injury.
He has been voted Man of the Match several times, most notably in a fighting 2007 defeat away at Twickenham and a historic later win at Murrayfield that sealed Italy's first two-match success in the tournament.
At club level he won four Italian titles with Benetton Treviso and was runner-up twice in France with Clermont Ferrand.
