Jason Leonard has announced he will retire from international rugby at the end of the RBS Six Nations tournament.
The veteran front-row forward has played 114 times for his country, a world record, and was a member of the squad that dramatically won the World Cup last year in Australia.
Leonard has found himself on the replacements bench for much of the current Six Nations campaign and was left out of the sqaud for the loss to Ireland as Sir Clive Woodward selected Matt Stevens in front of him.
He has now decided to bring the curtain down on his 14-year stint for his country and follows fellow World Cup winners Martin Johnson and Kieran Bracken in calling time on his England career.
“I have no doubt that this is the time to bow out of international rugby for the right reasons,” he stated in his column in the London Evening Standard.
“This is my decision, I have nothing to prove to anybody and I have been lucky enough to have achieved more than I could have ever dreamed of when I started in 1990.
“I have no regrets and have enjoyed every minute, but I realise that by not making myself available foe England's summer tour that this had to be my final Six Nations campaign.”
