Rugby World Cup winner Abby Dow has announced her shock retirement from professional rugby, with the Red Roses coach, John Mitchell, bemoaning the fact England have lost \u201cthe best right winger in world rugby at the peak of her powers\u201d.<\/p>\n
Dow has made the surprise move to focus on her engineering career.<\/p>\n
The England international\u2019s last game came in the World Cup final<\/a> where the Red Roses beat Canada 33-13 in front of a world-record crowd of 81,885 in September at Twickenham. Alongside the World Cup in her 59-cap international career, the 28-year-old won seven Six Nations titles and two WXV 1 trophies.<\/p>\n The announcement is perhaps not a complete surprise as the wing left her club Trailfinders in June and had not signed for another side before the Premiership Women\u2019s Rugby season, which began on 24 October.<\/p>\n \u201cI never realised when I picked up a rugby ball at the age of five that I was at the start of a 23-year sporting career,\u201d Dow said. \u201cRugby has been central to my life and has shaped me into who I am today. However, I feel the pull of my other passion, engineering, so I have decided to hang up my boots and try my luck in a different world.<\/p>\n \u201cThe rugby family has given much more that I could ever give back. I would like to thank my coaches, family, friends, and most importantly, the fans. They have enabled me to participate in something truly wonderful. I feel very privileged and humble.\u201d<\/p>\n Dow played for Wasps, Harlequins and then Trailfinders, winning her first cap in 2017 against Canada. She was a part of the first group of England women\u2019s players to receive full-time contracts in 2019. She went to score 50 tries in her Red Roses career, the last coming in this year\u2019s World Cup quarter-final against Scotland<\/a>.<\/p>\n Abby Dow\u2019s final appearance for England came in the World Cup final victory over Canada at Twickenham.<\/p>\n Off the pitch she gained a masters degree in mechanical engineering from Imperial College London.<\/p>\n Mitchell added: \u201cAbby is an awesome individual and a fierce competitor who lifts those around her. She is intelligent, insightful and inquisitive \u2013 attributes that have defined the brilliant Red Rose she has been across her 59 caps.<\/p>\n \u201cAbby has been part of an era for the Red Roses in which the game has grown exponentially and, through her love of crochet<\/a>, her interaction with supporters and her undoubted rugby ability, she has helped drive the women\u2019s game to unprecedented heights.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week’s action reviewed<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cI personally believe that we are losing arguably the best right winger in world rugby at the peak of her powers, but we fully respect her decision to move on to a new chapter. We will miss having her in our environment, and we look forward to seeing her succeed \u2013 as we know she will \u2013 in whatever she chooses to do next.\u201d<\/p>\n Abby Dow on her way to scoring a try on her debut for England against Canada in 2017. Photograph: Warren Little\/Getty Images<\/p>\n