Vickery bows to medical advice and calls time on career

Former England captain Phil Vickery has been forced to follow medical advice and retire from rugby with immediate effect.

The 34-year-old prop has been in severe pain since damaging his neck while captaining Wasps against his former club Gloucester on September 25.

Vickery successfully recovered from four major back and neck operations during his 15-year professional career but this time the risk of serious injury was too great.

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"I'm not afraid of fighting back or proving people wrong but there comes a stage when you have to listen and trust in the experts and it is based on medical reasons that I have been forced to retire," said Vickery.

"I will look back on my career with a lot of happy memories. I feel privileged to have been part of some amazing teams in Wasps and Gloucester, to have worked with the best coaches in the world, and to have played against and with some of the best players in the game."

Vickery retires with 73 England caps and five Test appearances for the Lions, three of them against Australia in 2001 and two versus the Springboks in 2009.

Although he missed the 2003 Grand Slam campaign through injury, Vickery returned to play a key role in England's World Cup triumph in Australia.

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He featured in every game of the tournament, scoring his first Test try against Samoa and starting the final against the Wallabies in Sydney.

A third back operation in 2006 led to his departure from Gloucester after 11 years at Kingsholm.

Vickery captained England to the 2007 World Cup final and then represented the Lions again in 2009, making his last international appearance in the third Test victory over South Africa.

Saracens yesterday confirmed the signing of Wales international Gavin Henson.

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Henson will link up with the Aviva Premiership club after the Ospreys "reluctantly agreed" to release him from the remaining seven months of his contract.

The 28-year-old has not played rugby since going on unpaid leave from the Ospreys 18 months ago following the latest in a series of injury setbacks.

Saracens' rugby director Brendan Venter has been hit with a misconduct charge following comments he made after his team's Heineken Cup defeat against Leinster at Wembley earlier this month.

The complaint will be heard by a three-man independent disciplinary committee chaired by Frenchman Jean-Noel Couraud in Dublin next Thursday.