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Exeter Chiefs winger Jack Nowell says he will not make himself available for England’s World Cup squad.
Nowell has been managing a knee injury and has only played in the Heineken Champions Cup for Exeter since the end of March.
“No World Cup, I’m not doing the World Cup. I am just going to chill,” Nowell told the RugbyPass Offload podcast.
“I need to get my knee sorted. Obviously, it was a bit of a hard decision not to put myself in for selection for the World Cup.
“I thought it was probably one I had to make for myself and for my family as well.”
Nowell will spend time in his native Cornwall before moving to France having decided to end more than a decade at Sandy Park.
His last England cap came last November against South Africa and he has not been picked since Steve Borthwick took over from Eddie Jones as the national team’s head coach.
The World Cup in France gets under way on 8 September. Moving abroad after the tournament will effectively end his England career as the current selection policy says that players plying their trade overseas are not considered for Test duty.
“I was in contact at the start with Steve and he let me know I wasn’t going to be involved in the Six Nations which was completely fair enough. New coach, new ideas,” Nowell added.
“There comes a stage where everyone has got to make a decision about the team, so I was happy with that.
“It was pretty cool – it was my last year at the club anyway, so I really get to focus on trying to do the best I can for the club and trying to get us into the big games at the end of the season.”