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Test centurion Courtney Lawes will retire from England duty following the Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old\u2019s bid to finish his international career on a high was cruelly ended by Saturday\u2019s heartbreaking 16-15 semi-final loss to South Africa in Paris.<\/p>\n
Vice-captain Lawes is a veteran of four World Cups, two British and Irish Lions tours and one of only five Englishmen to be capped 100 times.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Cysey8dMiQ7<\/p>\n
Steve Borthwick\u2019s side will return home from France following Friday evening\u2019s bronze-medal match against pool-stage opponents Argentina.<\/p>\n
Lawes, who has made 105 international appearances across 15 years, said: \u201cI haven\u2019t told Steve yet! But I will let him know.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve said to the boys, anyone that\u2019s asked. I think it\u2019s time. I\u2019ve done four World Cups, so I\u2019m pretty happy with that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of an end of an era, but it\u2019s been a real honour for me to represent England for so long. It flies by.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud of the journey I\u2019ve been on. It\u2019s not always been the ups. Plenty of downs in there, but I\u2019ve pushed through.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not an emotional person really, but it\u2019s just been a huge honour for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be able to finish with this group, it\u2019s something I\u2019ll treasure forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
England travelled to the World Cup in poor form and with many pundits dismissive of their prospects.<\/p>\n
But they came agonisingly close to reaching a second successive final after leading the reigning champions for all but five minutes of an enthralling last-four encounter which was settled by Handre Pollard\u2019s late penalty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of those where we thought we had it, but let it slip away at the same time,\u201d said Lawes.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019ve proved a lot of people wrong. You give it all you\u2019ve got. It\u2019s sport, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what it means at the highest level. You get a couple of things wrong and get punished.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut a lot of people thought we\u2019d have struggled, and in the end we were unlucky to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawes made his England debut against Australia in 2009 when head coach Borthwick was team captain.<\/p>\n
The flanker was a beaten finalist against the Springboks in 2019 and also played in the 2011 and 2015 tournaments, in addition to representing the Lions in 2017 and 2021.<\/p>\n
He believes England have a bright future under Borthwick and is determined to sign off by helping the team finish third.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe showed to everyone what it means to play for this team,\u201d said Lawes. \u201cPlay for your country and the boys alongside you.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people can see now what a good coach he is \u2013 and where this team can really go.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to finish on a high. It\u2019s important for us to finish properly and send us all off on a good win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Father-of-four Lawes joined World Cup-winning prop Jason Leonard and international team-mates Ben Youngs, Owen Farrell and Dan Cole on a select list of England centurions in August by captaining his country in a shock warm-up defeat to Fiji at Twickenham.<\/p>\n
He waved to fans at Stade de France following England\u2019s dramatic elimination and intends to spend more time with his children while continuing to playing for Northampton.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kids are at that age where they need their dad around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be good to be with them more, to provide some well-needed structure to the mob.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs hard as it is being away from your family, you almost have another family.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really feel like that, especially when you\u2019re away in camps like World Cup camps. It\u2019s five months, staying with your brothers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll definitely miss the boys, the banter and all the stuff we get up to when we\u2019re not training. I\u2019ll miss the hard work as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019ll definitely miss pulling the jersey on and giving it everything.\u201d<\/p>\n