Test centurion Courtney Lawes will retire from England duty following the Rugby World Cup.
The 34-year-old’s bid to end his worldwide profession on a excessive was cruelly ended by Saturday’s heartbreaking 16-15 semi-final loss to South Africa in Paris.
Vice-captain Lawes is a veteran of 4 World Cups, two British and Irish Lions excursions and one in every of solely 5 Englishmen to be capped 100 occasions.
Steve Borthwick’s aspect will return house from France following Friday night’s bronze-medal match towards pool-stage opponents Argentina.
Lawes, who has made 105 worldwide appearances throughout 15 years, mentioned: “I haven’t told Steve yet! But I will let him know.
“I’ve said to the boys, anyone that’s asked. I think it’s time. I’ve done four World Cups, so I’m pretty happy with that.
“It’s a bit of an end of an era, but it’s been a real honour for me to represent England for so long. It flies by.
“I’m proud of the journey I’ve been on. It’s not always been the ups. Plenty of downs in there, but I’ve pushed through.
“I’m not an emotional person really, but it’s just been a huge honour for me.
“To be able to finish with this group, it’s something I’ll treasure forever.”
England travelled to the World Cup in poor type and with many pundits dismissive of their prospects.
But they got here agonisingly shut to reaching a second successive closing after main the reigning champions for all however 5 minutes of an enthralling last-four encounter which was settled by Handre Pollard’s late penalty.
“It’s one of those where we thought we had it, but let it slip away at the same time,” mentioned Lawes.
“But we’ve proved a lot of people wrong. You give it all you’ve got. It’s sport, isn’t it?
“That’s what it means at the highest level. You get a couple of things wrong and get punished.
“But a lot of people thought we’d have struggled, and in the end we were unlucky to lose.”
Lawes made his England debut towards Australia in 2009 when head coach Borthwick was group captain.
The flanker was a crushed finalist towards the Springboks in 2019 and in addition performed within the 2011 and 2015 tournaments, as well as to representing the Lions in 2017 and 2021.
He believes England have a vivid future underneath Borthwick and is decided to log off by serving to the group end third.
“We showed to everyone what it means to play for this team,” mentioned Lawes. “Play for your country and the boys alongside you.
“I think people can see now what a good coach he is – and where this team can really go.
“We want to finish on a high. It’s important for us to finish properly and send us all off on a good win.”
Father-of-four Lawes joined World Cup-winning prop Jason Leonard and worldwide team-mates Ben Youngs, Owen Farrell and Dan Cole on a choose listing of England centurions in August by captaining his nation in a shock warm-up defeat to Fiji at Twickenham.
He waved to followers at Stade de France following England’s dramatic elimination and intends to spend extra time along with his kids whereas persevering with to enjoying for Northampton.
“The kids are at that age where they need their dad around,” he mentioned.
“It will be good to be with them more, to provide some well-needed structure to the mob.
“As hard as it is being away from your family, you almost have another family.
“You really feel like that, especially when you’re away in camps like World Cup camps. It’s five months, staying with your brothers.
“I’ll definitely miss the boys, the banter and all the stuff we get up to when we’re not training. I’ll miss the hard work as well.
“And I’ll definitely miss pulling the jersey on and giving it everything.”
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