BEN Westwood would have retired from international rugby league this year had he featured in England’s Four Nations campaign at the end of last season.

Warrington Wolves’ former joint-skipper did not make Steve McNamara’s squad that travelled Down Under due to a series of injuries throughout the 2014 campaign.

Westwood has now set his sights on reclaiming a national spot for New Zealand’s visit in November.

And the former Wakefield man has a score to settle with the Kiwis, who beat England in the 2013 World Cup semi final at Wembley.

“Hopefully I’ll play well enough to get that nod and give it one last bash,” said the 33-year-old.

“I was planning on retiring after last year if I had played Down Under, but I’ll give it one more year and if Steve still wants me involved I’ll put my hand up for selection.

“Hopefully I’ll have one more crack at internationals at the end of the year.”

Westwood, who has 26 caps for his country, is confident he would have featured had he not been due to undergo a series of operations on injuries that plagued him last season.

But he also feels having a full off-season to recover has done him and his Wolves form no harm at all.

“That’s the first time I’ve missed out for a bit,” explained Westwood. “It’s the first proper pre-season I’ve done for eight years, maybe.

“I’ve no doubt if I hadn’t been injured I’d have put my hand up to go.

“It’s probably done me the world of good. I had a lot of niggly injuries and I pulled my calf three times last year. My shoulders were bothering me and my elbows, so it was a chance to have a few operations and fix myself up.

“I had a good rest and hopefully it’s paying off this year.”

Having shared the captaincy with Michael Monaghan last year, Westwood has relinquished the role to Joel Monaghan, while Chris Hill was named vice-captain.

That decision was made by head of coaching and rugby Tony Smith.

“It was Smithy’s decision, we maybe needed a little bit of change,” added Westwood. “Monas was a very vocal captain who just had that in him and kind of took a light off me in the speaking parts.

“I’ve never been a big speaker. I would like to think I lead by example, express myself and hopefully people follow me that way.

“Monas was a very dominant speaker and obviously once he left Tony decided it was time for a change. I accepted it.

“Last year I had a few injuries, I was in for a couple of games and then banned, then in for a couple of games and picked up a six-week injury.

“That was more or less my season all over. Maybe this took a little bit of pressure off me to get back into the form I know I’m capable of.”

But Westwood was pleased to see Hill step up to the plate and skipper the side against Leeds Rhinos and St Helens while Monaghan was sidelined through injury.

“The captaincy is a weird one, there are a few players in the dressing room who naturally have that kind of role in them,” he said.

“We know Hilly does the coin toss and leads us out on the field.

“He leads by example a lot of the time, and he has a few words to say, but there are quite a group of leaders who do a lot of talking before the game.

“So not much changed, it’s great to see Hilly doing what he does and great to see him get the vice-captaincy and lead the boys out – that is a great feeling, believe me.”