Jonny Wilksinson

England and RC Toulon fly half Jonny Wilkinson has retired from international rugby with immediate effect.

The 32-year-old retires after an international career of 91 Tests for England, with appearances at four world cups and five starts at the most recent tournament in New Zealand.

Wilkinson’s list of accolades is headed by his 1,246 Test points, with his aggregate comprising 1,179 for England, 67 for the British & Irish Lions in six matches and a world best of 36 dropped goals, together with a peerless aggregate of 277 points in the RWC.

After first debuting at the age of 18 years and 314 days against Ireland 13 years ago, Wilkinson inked his name into England Rugby history by kicking the injury time drop goal that secured the 20-17 win over Australia in the 2003 Rugby World Cup final in Sydney.

Speaking about the retirement on his official website, Jonny said: “To do so fills me with great sadness but I know that I have been blessed in so many ways to have experienced what I have with the England rugby team.

“To say I have played through four World Cups, two Lions tours, 91 international games and a ridiculous number of injuries and other set backs gives me an incredibly special feeling of fulfilment. But by now I know myself well enough to know that I will never truly be satisfied.

“It goes without saying that I would like to wish Stuart Lancaster, his coaches and the England Squad every bit of success available to them. I would also very much like to extend those wishes to Martin Johnson, Brian Smith, Mike Ford, John Wells, Graham Rowntree and the rest of the England 2011 World cup management team who have been fantastic and deserve people to know that.”

England Interim Head Coach Stuart Lancaster paid tribute to “one of England’s greatest players.”

Lancaster said: “Jonny has had a fantastic international career which ranks as one of England’s greatest ever players.

“He will of course be remembered for that drop goal but he is more than that, a model sportsman – down to earth and hard working, who has never stopped trying to be the best that he can.

“Everyone who has played with, coached and watched Jonny play should feel privileged to have had an involvement with him. Not only has he been a world class player but he has inspired thousands to play and watch the game of rugby.

“He will continue to do great things with Toulon and I would like to go and see him in France to learn from his vast knowledge and experience of 13 years at the very top of the international game.”

The former Welsh international is currently in his sixth season with the club and has made over 100 first team appearances.

He has been a consistent presence in the Gloucester second row during his time at Kingsholm packing down alongside the likes of Alex Brown and Jim Hamilton.

And he has played an important role in the opening few weeks of the 2011-12 season with Brown currently sidelined with a shoulder injury and Hamilton having been away at the World Cup with Scotland.

With an important Aviva Premiership fixture at home to Saracens this weekend (Saturday, kick off 5:45pm GMT), the 34 year old told the club website that he’s very happy to have got his immediate future sorted out.

“I’m delighted. It’s good for me that I’ve got this year and next year and can just concentrate on the rugby. I’m over the moon.”

“Some guys are quite laid back about it when they’re in a contract year but, personally, I don’t like to worry about these things and risk have it affect my performance on the pitch. I’m glad it’s out of the way and it’s a weight off my mind.”

He’s a man who has quite evidently been enjoying his rugby this season and is now focussing on Saracens this weekend.

“I’m enjoying my rugby and playing most weeks. We’re still a work in progress but I’m really happy to be playing my part.”

“Saturday’s a massive game. We came off the rails a little bit last weekend at Leicester but we understand the challenge this weekend and are all 100% focussed on the task in hand. We’re looking forward to it.”

London-based Sarries beat Leicester in the final at Twickenham on Saturday after being runners-up to the same opponents a year earlier.

The single-minded former Springbok centre quit his post as director of rugby in November to return to South Africa for family reasons.

But his pioneering steps were not forgotten in the heady afterglow of the trophy grab: BBC Sport’s Adam Jones, in a piece headlined “New dawn for Saracens” wrote that Venter had “ushered in a new collective spirit, a higher sense of professionalism” at the club.

“His signing of South Africans Schalk Brits and Ernst Joubert, and Namibian flanker (Jacques) Burger proved inspired.”

And the writer quoted Mark McCall, Venter’s successor, as saying: “Brendan began the project; he kick-started this club and his fingerprints are all over this team.

“Stepping into his shoes was actually a very easy thing to do because of the systems, and people, and values already installed.”

*Meanwhile, three South African-born players – two of them from Saracens – have found their way into an English Premiership team of the year chosen by Shaun Edwards, the rugby league legend now highly regarded for his ability as a union coach in the UK.

Writing in The Guardian, Edwards named Sarries’ Brad Barritt at inside centre – hailing him as “the cornerstone of the Saracens defence” – and Schalk Brits at hooker, plus Northampton’s Brian Mujati at tighthead prop.

(Rob Houwing, Sport24)

World Cup winning Springbok Ruan Pienaar scored all of Ulster’s points in a close win over Glasgow in the Magners League on Friday night.

Pienaar contributed all of his side’s 19 points after he started at scrumhalf for his new Belfast club. Pienaar will be happy with his first game after returning from a shoulder injury.

In the first half Pienaar slotted two penalties before he scored a try and also converted it. Glasgow scored a try and three penalties to take  a slight lead of 14-13 at halftime.

After the break Pienaar and Glasgow flyhalf Duncan Weir exchanged a penalty a piece before Pienaar slotted a pressure penalty kick in the 73rd minute to secure an important victory for his team and move them into joint first position with Cardiff after five matches.

Point Scorers:

ULSTER: 19

Try: Pienaar

Conversion: Pienaar

Penalties: Pienaar (4)

GLASGOW: 17

Try: Van der Merwe

Penalties: Weir (4)

[james@rugby15.co.za]

Utility Springbok Ruan Pienaar has recovered sufficiently from his shoulder injury and has been picked in an extended Ulster squad to face Glasgow on Friday night.

Pienaar scored 6 tries in 43 Tests for South Africa and made his debut as reserve in 2006 against New Zealand at Loftus Versfeld. His last match was played at the Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane against Australia before he returned injured to the Sharks and departed soon after to join up with Springbok and former Sharks teammate BJ Botha at his new Belfast-based club.

There has been no indication from the management whether he will play scrumhalf, flyhalf or providing cover from the bench. A final decision will only be made later in the week when the 30 man squad gets trimmed.

BJ Botha has been excluded from the squad due to injury.

[james@rugby15.co.za]

Butch James, Barth

Having made an excellent recovery from an ACL injury sustained last season, Butch James will finally be able to pull back on his number 10 jersey when he faces Sale Sharks on Saturday.”It is so good to be back,” admitted Butch earlier this week. “It has been a long nine months, but to actually be at the finishing line now and preparing to get back on the field with the rest of the guys is great.”

Enduring such a long lay off and being forced to watch from the sidelines must have been endlessly frustrating for the 31-year-old.

 ”It is the worst thing ever,” said James. “You get more nervous before a game than you would if you were playing in it.

“When you can’t help the guys on the field you do end up getting so frustrated – so to actually get out there this weekend and be able to hopefully help the guys out will be great.”

Since joining Bath Rugby in 2007, shortly after winning the Rugby World Cup with the South African team, Butch has made quite the impact. Making 44 appearances in Bath colours, the fly-half has scored 325 points for the club since landing on English soil. But, even with his shining record, James is still feeling nervous ahead of the game.

 ”When you think about getting back into taking big hits and dishing them out, it can make you cringe a bit. But when you get out onto the field, you are in the heat of the moment and you soon just enjoy playing the game.

 ”I am a bit nervous, but once we kick off I will be looking to get stuck in straight away.”

 Having enjoyed (or endured) three winters in Bath, Butch has had some pretty extreme weather to contend with – especially when he returned from a holiday back home to discover a snow-covered Rec.

 ”I have never seen snowfall like that before, so that was quite nice to see.

 ”But, I was lucky. The coaches and physio’s gave me some time off over Christmas and it is always good to go back home and get a bit of sun. I came back feeling nice and fresh.”

[ Information from Barthrugby.com]