Scrum-half Danny Care says he will not retire from international rugby after helping England finish third at the World Cup in France.
Team-mates Ben Youngs and Courtney Lawes have announced they are retiring from England duty.
Care said: “I’ve always said that playing for England means everything to me and I would never take myself out of that equation.”
He told the BBC’s Rugby Union Daily podcast: “I said to Steve (Borthwick, England coach) that I’ve absolutely loved every second of being back in and playing for England, and if there is a glimmer of hope that may happen one more time for one more minute, I’m not going to call time on it yet.”
Care fell out of favour for a long period under previous head coach Eddie Jones, missing out on selection for the 2019 World Cup in the process.
“I had three years out, which I think helps me,” he said. “When I speak to Ben and Courtney, they’ve been in it for 12 years non-stop. I had a bit of a sabbatical.
“The past five or six months have been some of my greatest memories in an England shirt.
“There might be a time in the Six Nations when someone might call a day on it, but we’ll see. I’ll just keep dreaming and keep hoping.”
Care could reach 100 England caps during the Six Nations in early 2024 if he remains part of the squad.
“That would be amazing, another dream come true. I’m in the nervous nineties,” said Care, who was primarily used as a replacement for Alex Mitchell at the World Cup.
“I’ll try my best to play as well as I can for Harlequins when I get back, to try to get in that Six Nations squad.
“If not, I’m proud of getting another stab at it. I’m really grateful to Steve and the coaches for giving me another go, and really grateful to the team for letting me back in.”
England ‘have core of a really good team’
England, World Cup runners-up in 2019, had a difficult build-up to the 2023 tournament.
Borthwick replaced Jones as coach in December 2022 and England won only two of their five games during the subsequent Six Nations, before losing three of their four World Cup warm-up matches.
Former England fly-half Paul Grayson said: “England have finished third, which is probably about as much as we could have expected with the changes that have gone on, the form they’ve shown coming in and the pool they were in. They came desperately close to getting to a final.
“Have they made progress? They’ve come third at a World Cup, so yes.
“How quickly you want the work in progress to happen depends on your outlook. It’s been a fraction slow for me in terms of the organisation in attack in particular.
“But they’ve blooded some young players; they’ve got the core of a really good team going forward. As long as it’s evolution, not revolution, I’m all for it.”
Grayson, a member of England’s World Cup-winning squad in 2003, said there must be a focus on short-term progress as well as the longer-term goal of challenging to win the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
He said: “We were told in 2019, ‘wait until 2023 and watch how good we are’. It’s been absolute carnage since – a team broken apart and tried to be put back together – and England have ended up limping into this World Cup.
“I’m not interested in any talk of 2027 – I don’t care at this point.
“I care about England going into the Six Nations in good heart, trying to close the gap on France and Ireland, and seeing England play in a way that evolves, engages people, play with the intensity they played with against South Africa more often than not, and you’ll carry the supporters with you.
“The next goal for England is not the 2027 World Cup – try to win the Six Nations.”
