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Marler announces international retirement


JOE MARLER. PHOTO / GETTY
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England and Harlequins prop Joe Marler is set to announce his retirement from international rugby at the age of 28 for personal reasons according to The Telegraph.

The Harlequins player has won 59 England caps since making his debut in 2012 and toured New Zealand in 2017 with the British and Irish Lions.

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He withdrew from head coach Eddie Jones’ latest England squad on Sunday, however the 28-year old is still available for Harlequins on Saturday for their match against Gloucester.

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England face South Africa, New Zealand, Japan and Australia in the November autumn internationals.

The Harlequins loosehead, who has been capped 59 times by England, told Quins TV he was making the decision to spend more time with his family.

Marler, 28, said: “It has been an honour and a privilege to represent my country and of course this has been a very difficult decision to make, but I have decided to retire from playing international rugby with immediate effect to spend more time with my family.”

29-year old Exeter player Ben Moon has been called up as a replacement for Marler. Moon has played 223 times for Exeter and he is their longest serving player after making is debut in 2008.

England head coach Eddie Jones had some words to say on the news of Marler’s retirement saying: “I’m very disappointed for the team.

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“Joe has been an integral member since 2015 when I arrived, and obviously before that also.

“In my era we’ve really enjoyed him playing for the team, he is an honest, hard-working player. He has made a decision based on personal grounds and we understand his reasoning. He is a good guy and we will miss him greatly.”

Ahead of the November Internationals an England squad will be named on 18 October before they fly to Portugal on 24 October to begin their final preparations for the four-Test series.

England will play South Africa (3 November), New Zealand (10 November), Japan (17 November) and Australia (24 November) at Twickenham Stadium.

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Phantom 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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