Test centurion Courtney Lawes will retire from England duty following the Rugby World Cup.
The 34-year-old’s bid to finish his international career on a high was cruelly ended by Saturday’s heartbreaking 16-15 semi-final loss to South Africa in Paris.
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.
View this post on InstagramSteve Borthwick’s side will return home from France following Friday evening’s bronze-medal match against pool-stage opponents Argentina.
Lawes, who has made 105 international appearances across 15 years, said: “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 form and with many pundits dismissive of their prospects.
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’s late penalty.
“It’s one of those where we thought we had it, but let it slip away at the same time,” said 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 against Australia in 2009 when head coach Borthwick was team captain.
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.
He believes England have a bright future under Borthwick and is determined to sign off by helping the team finish third.
“We showed to everyone what it means to play for this team,” said 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 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.
He waved to fans at Stade de France following England’s dramatic elimination and intends to spend more time with his children while continuing to playing for Northampton.
“The kids are at that age where they need their dad around,” he said.
“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.”
'What will be, will be' – Gatland will respect any decision on Wales future
Warren Gatland accepts his future is out of his hands after Wales suffered a record-setting defeat to Australia.
Wales were hammered 52-20 by the Wallabies in Cardiff on Sunday, as Australia scored eight tries in their biggest ever away win over the Welsh.
It marked an 11th straight Test defeat for Wales, who face world champions South Africa in their next outing.
Wales are on their worst ever run of defeats, and Gatland knows there is plenty of negativity around his coaching.
"It's the most challenging time I've ever known as a coach and what will be, will be," Gatland told TNT Sports.
"I will chat to a few people as to what happens from here.
"I am passionate about Welsh rugby but there's a lot of negativity around the game right now and we want to make sure what happens is the best for Welsh rugby, not about me. I will respect the decision."
Gatland is in his second stint in charge of Wales, having led them for 12 years between 2007 and 2019, leading them to four Six Nations titles.
Yet Wales have been abysmal as of late, and were dispatched by an Australia team that were reduced to 14 men for 20 minutes of the second half.
"It hurts. We got ourselves back into the game, but to me, we're a man up and conceded three tries - 21 points - that's really disappointing," he added.
"From our point of view, we had a chance to put them under pressure, we probably just forced things - [conceded] some turnovers, some penalties, so that was disappointing.
"I felt we had the chance to get ourselves back into it and kind of just shot ourselves in the foot.
"We spoke about it at half-time, some momentum, go out there and be accurate, we'll get some opportunities and when we play with tempo and keep the ball we look good.
"[Conceding] 21 points with a man advantage, it's not often that happens."
Wales prop Gareth Thomas told S4C: "We're all very disappointed after that. We came into the game with a lot of energy, everything was in place coming into the game. We had confidence with the coaches.
"Our discipline let us down and we're very disappointed. We've let ourselves down. They were down to 14 men and we couldn't take advantage."
Australia's Tom Wright capped off his hat-trick just before full-time, and he was keen to highlight the Wallabies' dominant display.
"That was an awesome 80-minute performance," he told TNT Sports. "Ebbs and flows, we gave a lot of momentum to Wales at stages, we made it difficult for ourselves, but those are games you like to be a part of.
"There was a lot of ball in play, Wales were really up for the content and really made us earn all those points."
Wales 20-52 Australia: More misery for Gatland as Wallabies run riot
Tom Wright and Matt Faessler plundered hat-tricks as Australia cruised to an emphatic 52-20 win over struggling Wales in Cardiff.
Wright capped off a superb individual display in the closing minutes of Sunday's clash to take the Wallabies over 50 points at the Principality Stadium.
It is a defeat that will only increase the pressure on Wales coach Warren Gatland, whose team have now lost 11 straight Tests, their worst-ever run.
Wright and Faessler claimed six of Australia's eight tries, with Nick Frost and Len Ikitau also going over for the visitors, who were 19-0 up early on before Wales responded through Aaron Wainwright's try and Gareth Anscombe's kicks.
Wales were unable to take advantage of Samu Kerevi's second-half 20-minute red card for a high tackle on Jac Morgan, as Australia scored three tries in quick succession, with Faessler getting two and Wright adding his second.
Ben Thomas crossed for the hosts, but Ikitau and Wright had the final say for Australia, who have Scotland and Ireland to come in their next fixtures.
Data Debrief: Record losing run reaches new low
Wales' 11-match losing run is the worst in the nation's Test history, and it is now a long way back for Gatland.
This was Australia's biggest-ever away win over Wales, who now face the daunting prospect of facing two-time reigning world champions South Africa next week.
Should Wales lose to the Springboks, they will have gone an entire calendar year without a win for the first time since 1937.
Borthwick concedes 'these are painful days' after Springboks defeat
Steve Borthwick was left "incredibly disappointed and frustrated" following England's defeat by South Africa, conceding "these are painful days".
England suffered their fifth successive Test loss after going down 29-20 at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
The hosts were quick out of the blocks with Ollie Sleightholme crossing on his first international start, and led 20-19 in the second half.
However, a Handre Pollard penalty and Cheslin Kolbe's second try of the game settled the contest in favour of South Africa, who then stubbornly defended their lead during a late England surge.
Borthwick's side have now lost three consecutive home games for the first time since 2006, but he hopes these experiences will benefit his players further down the line.
"I am incredibly disappointed and frustrated," he told BBC Radio 5 Live. "You see so much good' the way the team came out of the blocks at the start and came at South Africa.
"Then, for a long time, the game was toe-to-toe, but in the last period, we failed to take our opportunities. How many times did we fail to take our chances in their 22?
"These are painful days. At times, we are putting ourselves in positions to win games, and we are not converting them. Whilst these are painful, we will use them in a positive way to help with our development.
"We have a lot of young players that have come into this team, and we have accelerated their transition.
"As you look towards the future, these players are going to be brilliant international players. But, right now, these days of development are tough. We will persevere and be better because of these experiences."
Borthwick is adamant England are "going in the right direction", and believes he still has the backing of the RFU.
"I'm not going to be talking about private conversations here, but what’s actually more important is the feeling I get," he added.
"The feeling I get from the RFU is one of absolute support and absolute belief that this team is going in the right direction."
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