Neck injury forces Vickery retirement

BIg Phil waves goodbye

Former England rugby captain, Phil Vickery will today announce his retirement from the game.

The Wasps prop will formally announce his decision at a press conference later today and it is believed to be the result of a recent neck injury. Which, if exacerbated could leave him with irreparable damage.

The front row played his final game, of a 15 year career, with Wasps over a month ago. He had targeted a return to the England set up where he had been capped 73 times since his debut in 1998. 

He told the Guardian early this month: "If fit and playing well I'd love to be part of another World Cup. I didn't want lots of tributes in the (autobiographical) book because I don't consider my career to be over. I'll always want to play for England."

As well as his national side, Vickery was capped by the Lions five times and  his last international appearance was in the red jersey in the 28-9 victory over the Springboks in Johannesburg.

However, the 34 year old will look back on his 12 year career and pick out winning the World Cup as the finest moment before going on to captain the side in the 2007 final.

He published his autobiography, Raging Bull, this month and ended it by saying: "I love everything about rugby. I hope I am involved in the game, in some way or another, for the rest of my days. I just cannot imagine life without it."

Vickery is the latest in a line of front row forwards who have been forced to succumb tot he intense pressure the position places on the neck and spine. He had recovered from four previous operations on his neck, but this time it was just one scrum too far.