A key member of England’s rugby union World Cup winning team has retired from international duty at the age of thirty-two. Josh Lewsey, who has played for the national team a total of 55 times, has fallen out of favour with selectors recently as officials aim to test out younger players.

In the light of this new situation, Lewsey has decided to focus solely upon his club career with Wasps. He has not been in particularly impressive form recently for his club and this is something the player, who has very high expectations of himself, is keen to change.

It is a major decision from a player who made his Test debut for England in 1998. He quickly became a key player for the national side and, during his international career, he scored 22 tries. One of the most memorable of these tries came last year in the World Cup semi-final tie against France.

Unfortunately, Lewsey was injured later in the same game and was forced into missing the tournament’s final. The crucial involvement in the semi-final has proved to be the last act of Lewsey’s in an England shirt and it was perhaps a fitting end to an impressive, if somewhat underrated, international career.

Lewsey explained that he spoke to new England boss, Martin Johnson, about his future prospects in an England shirt, and was told that “he didn’t consider me to be an integral part of his immediate team moving forward”.

Despite this discouragement, the player still has hopes of participating in the Lions' tour next year. The Lions will travel to South Africa and the player will hope to be in with a chance of inclusion.

Last week, Matt Dunning and Sekope Kepu, two Australian rugby players, suffered serious injuries when a scrum collapsed during a match held at Wembley.

Yesterday it was announced that the rugby authorities from Australia are going to investigate whether or not the pitch at Wembley was a major contributing factor in causing the injuries of the players.

A health and safety committee of six representatives has been formed by the Australian Rugby Union and Rupa, a body which represents the rugby players, and the investigation will assess whether the players competed on “surfaces that are unstable” and therefore inherently unsafe.

The chief executive of Rupa, Tony Dempsey, has revealed that several of the players complained about the unstable pitch and this, in his own words, has concerned Australian rugby officials “from an occupational health and safety point of view”.

Rupa, the body currently headed by Dempsey, stands for the Rugby Union Players’ Association in Australia. It was initially set up to ensure the safety of the sport's players and the organisation will deal with this recent issue severely if it is found that the Wembley pitch was unfit for professional play.

The news has been dismissed by officials at Wembley, who believe that the pitch surface is perfectly stable.

A spokesperson revealed that both teams took part in training sessions the day before the match and had no complaints. Furthermore, thousands of junior rugby players took part in matches prior to the game’s kick-off and did not suffer any injuries.

England rugby union star, Jonny Wilkinson, has revealed that he may make a successful comeback from his latest injury problem in time to be in line for a call-up to the Six Nations squad.

The Six Nations tournament starts next February and the availability of Wilkinson would be a massive boost for an international side which has faltered during recent performances. Toby Flood and Danny Cipriani have failed to make an impression in the position left vacant by the Newcastle fly-half, with the latter player coming under heavy criticism during recent weeks.

Wilkinson, who is still the record points-scorer in international rugby union despite having suffered a wide range of serious injuries since his starring role in the 2003 World Cup, suffered a serious knee injury at the end of September and is set to have one more operation before starting the real road to recovery.

This operation will allow surgeons to assess how Wilkinson’s knee is healing and, if all the signs are positive, he will be able to, in his own words, “move around” properly by January.

The fly-half believes that the national team, under the guidance of new manager, Martin Johnson, will thrive in the near future. Whilst immediate success under new management is an unrealistic ambition, Wilkinson remains confident that improvements will be seen very soon.

The player has placed his trust in “the system” as well as the coaches and the other players in the England team. Hopefully for England, Wilkinson will be able to return in time to see Six Nations success.

English fans of rugby union have been left feeling angry, frustrated, and dejected following the recent performances of the national side. Humbling defeats at the hands of teams including South Africa and New Zealand have chipped away at the national pride felt by those who still remember the glory days of 2003, when the England rugby team beat Australia to win the World Cup in impressive style.

However, one person who simply refuses to believe that the England team has frustrated fans recently is Rob Andrew, the national union’s director of elite rugby.

According to Andrew, all is well in the English rugby union world. He has given his full backing to the coaching team which includes individuals including Brian Smith, Jon Callard, and Mike Ford, and believes that Martin Johnson is the right man to be leading the national side at this time.

Andrew recognised that the coaches have had a tough start but the director still thinks that a “rebuilding process” is underway and, as such, the recent performances and results should have been expected.

Andrew’s words seem slightly unrealistic. After all, even Martin Johnson has admitted that work needs to be done. The manager revealed that the team needs “to improve” in all areas and simply needs to “get better” very quickly.

Despite the dissatisfaction felt by England fans recently, Andrew believes that supporters “understand the difficulties and the difficult job that Martin has been given”. He has urged patience during the build-up to the 2011 World Cup.