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Johnson Test Retirement Imminent.

Johnson Test Retirement Imminent.

England captain Martin Johnson is expected
to confirm on Saturday he is to retire from Test rugby and coach Clive Woodward is reportedly not looking at Jonny Wilkinson to replace him.

England captain Martin Johnson is expected
to confirm on Saturday he is to retire from Test rugby and coach Clive Woodward is reportedly not looking at Jonny Wilkinson to replace him.

Woodward has told his players they must commit to the three-Test
tour of
Australia and New Zealand in June if they want to play in this
season’s Six
Nations and the 33-year-old Johnson is reportedly unwilling to make
that
commitment.

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And the head coach has as good as signalled Johnson’s departure
from the
international scene.
“It was fantastic but now it’s gone. We created a great team,
but that team
will never play together again,” Woodward said.

England open their defence of the championship against Italy in
Rome on Feb
15.
Woodward was reported to have drawn up a shortlist to replace
Johnson as
captain that does not include Wilkinson.

They are former skipper and No 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, scrum-half
Matt
Dawson,
blindside flanker Richard Hill and prop Phil Vickery.

Dallaglio, who was Johnson’s predecessor as England captain,
admitted he
would love to regain his position if Johnson retires.
Dallaglio held the post until drug revelations, which he denied,
forced him
to step down in 1999.

“I’m fairly realistic and philosophical about it,” he said “Form is going to be the most decisive factor in any decision
and I am playing
well.”

Johnson has captained England 39 times during his 84 Tests, and
played in
the Five Nations Grand Slam in 1995 and Six Nations Grand Slam in
2003.
He made his debut for England with a win against France at
Twickenham in
1993.
He also led the British and Irish Lions twice, winning the South
African
series in 1997 but losing in Australia in 2001.

Former England captain Will Carling said Johnson had nothing left
to prove.

“It is probably the hardest decision he will have to face. It
is bizarre.
It is a very personal decision for him to have to make.” Carling
told BBC
Radio.

“Martin has been one of the most honest players we have ever
had, he is one
of the greatest, and I think he is going to be honest with himself.
Every year you come out and want to improve as a player, as
a captain, you
want the side to improve – if he feels that is gone, then he should
retire. He
is still a world-class player, there is no doubt about that. But if
the desire
to prove in every area and that hunger has gone, then what else has
he got to
prove to anyone?

“He has been a successful Lions captain, he has won the Grand
Slam as a
captain, the World Cup – he has done everything. It is quite an
incredible
record that he has, and maybe that is where he has suddenly thought
there is
nothing else, no other peaks for me to climb,” added Carling who
retired in
1997 after winning 72 caps.