BATH'S Lewis Moody has announced his retirement from international rugby in the wake of England's disappointing World Cup showing.

The 33-year-old flanker, a World Cup winner with England in 2003 and veteran of 71 Tests, was captain of the side which exited at the quarter-finals in New Zealand following a campaign dogged by controversy.

"I realised I might be making this decision before the World Cup started," Moody told The Mail on Sunday, for whom he writes a regular column.

"It's a big decision to make and I feel emotional about making it, but it's the right thing to do for me and for the England rugby squad."

Moody, who will now concentrate on his domestic career with Bath, added: "My time with England has been unbelievable, even if the last few weeks have not gone so well."

Moody admitted that England's below-par World Cup performance should be the prompt for changes both at skipper and among the wider playing personnel.

"It's only right for the team to move on," he said.

"There will be changes, maybe in management and definitely in some of the match-day 22, and if England want to start planning for a successful World Cup here in four years' time, then it is my belief that they should be appointing a new captain from February to see the team right the way through to 2015.

"Even if they still wanted me to carry on, there's no way I'd last another four years, so it is absolutely right to stand down now and give someone else the opportunity to captain England."

England's stay in New Zealand was overshadowed by players' raucous behaviour at a bar in Queenstown, before three players - Chris Ashton, James Haskell and Dylan Hartley - were forced to apologise to a female hotel worker in Dunedin for lecherous comments.

Centre Manu Tuilagi was then fined £3,000 by the RFU for diving off a ferry into Auckland Harbour as England's wretched stay in New Zealand drew to a close.

And Moody, who made his England debut against Canada in 2001, accepts that he must take some of the blame for the myriad misdemeanours.

"I have to take some of the responsibility because, as England captain, it was under my watch," Moody added to the newspaper.

"I concede that some of the behaviour was at best naive and at worst totally unacceptable."

On the field, England performed with little ambition or adventure, grinding out narrow victories over Argentina and Scotland before exiting the competition against a limited French side.

The deficiencies in so many areas raised questions about Martin Johnson's future as manager, but Moody insists the squad retains its support for the man who skippered England to World Cup glory eight years ago.

"There is not a single member of the World Cup squad who does not believe Johnno should stay on and finish the job, just as Clive Woodward did after 1999," he said.

"I know the players are gutted that Johnno is taking so much flak. Nobody wants him to go."

Moody retires from the international scene having scored nine tries for England and having skippered his country on 11 occasions, the final occasion the 19-12 defeat to France in the quarter-finals earlier this month.

He also won three caps for the British & Irish Lions, a figure which, like his England appearances, would have been higher save for a string of injuries, which included a broken ankle in 2009 and a knee injury which ruled him out of this year's RBS 6 Nations.

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