He had hoped to return but after surgery Shanklin has been forced to admit defeat and retire.

The 31-year-old’s glittering career saw him win RBS 6 Nations Grand Slam titles in 2005 and 2008 as well as touring New Zealand with the British and Irish Lions in 2005.

After making his Wales debut in 2001 against Japan, Shanklin went on to collect 70 caps, scoring 20 tries in the process.

But it wasn’t just on the international stage that he excelled, joining Cardiff Blues from Saracens in 2003 and going on to score 28 tries in 114 appearances for the Welsh region.

“My knee isn’t too bad, it’s ok to walk and cycle and to do everyday things, but with regards to playing rugby: accelerating, changing direction, weight lifting, it’s not too good,” he said.

“I had an operation in January to see if we could fix the problem and it hasn’t worked.

“It’s bone on bone on my knee which has restricted me from doing a lot of things and I’m going to have to retire from the game.

“The advice from Rhys Williams the surgeon was to retire. Rhys knows the inside of my knee pretty well having done three or four operations on it.

“It was down to me to decide if I can continue or not, but I can’t go on, as it’s too sore and it’s a pretty black and white situation.

“I can’t fully function with it and I need to start taking account of my body and start listening to it.

“I’ve now had time to take it on board, so it isn’t a shock, and I’ve come to terms that I’ll never play again.”