England's Haskell to retire at the end of the season

England flanker James Haskell is to retire at the end of the season after struggling to overcome a succession of injuries during his year at Northampton.

Recurring ankle and toe problems have severely restricted Haskell's game time at Franklin's Gardens and the 34-year-old has decided to end a decorated 77-cap career that began at Wasps in 2002.

Three Six Nations titles, including a Grand Slam, and a man of the series contribution to England's 3-0 whitewash of Australia in 2016 feature among his achievements.

"I have loved every minute of my career in rugby and feel very privileged to have played with and against some exceptional players," the 2017 British and Irish Lions tourist said.

"I wish I'd been able to offer more to Northampton on the field this season. This next chapter was supposed to go a very different way. However, that is the nature of professional sport.

"I've never spent so much time injured in my entire career, but I'm doing everything I can to help the squad here until my contract ends.

"Retiring is obviously a really difficult decision for me to make - professional rugby has been the centre of my life for such a long time now and while it's weird to imagine living without it, I look to the future with huge excitement."

Haskell spent 14 years at Wasps over two spells that sandwiched stints in French, Japanese and New Zealand club rugby.