![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Raffi-1080x1080-1-1024x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSale Sharks can confirm that scrum-half Raffi Quirke will leave the club at the end of the current season.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Chorlton-born 24-year-old, who came through the club\u2019s academy system and played his junior rugby at Broughton Park, became Shark number 333 when he made his debut in February 2021.<\/p>\n
When he took to the field that day against Harlequins as a 19-year-old, he also became Sale\u2019s youngest ever Prem scrum-half.<\/p>\n
Raffi has gone on to make 80 appearances for his boyhood club, including 31 starts. This season he has started five games and come off the bench four times.<\/p>\n
On the international scene, Raffi made his England debut in 2021, scoring a memorable try as Eddie Jones\u2019s side beat South Africa at Twickenham. He has since won one further cap.<\/p>\n
Speaking about his departure, Raffi said: \u201cThis has been the hardest decision of my life so far because Sale is the club that I grew up supporting and dreaming of playing for.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying here since I was 15 has been an amazing experience and a privilege that has shaped me as a player and a person and I will be forever grateful to Alex, the owners, the coaches, the players and the supporters for truly believing in me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt goes without saying that I will give everything I have for the rest of the season to bring success to Sale.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ONEBALLCREATIVE_SHRKSQUINS-154-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cI have always seen rugby as my opportunity to explore different environments, people and places. I feel, for my rugby and personal development, that my story just needs a new challenge and a new setting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharks Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson said: \u201cI\u2019ve really enjoyed working with Raffi and as a homegrown player who grew up supporting the club, we all would have loved for him to continue his career with us.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe feels like he wants to try a new environment and a new challenge and we respect his decision. He\u2019ll leave with our blessing and thanks for everything that he\u2019s given to the club while he\u2019s been here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sale Sharks can confirm that scrum-half Raffi Quirke will leave the club at the end of the current…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-368225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}