I know that there is a school of thought that suggests that by extending my contract at Newcastle Falcons I may not be making the best decision for my England future, or that I have let loyalty get in the way of the bigger picture, or that I am missing the opportunity to go and amass a load of silverware elsewhere, so I should explain why I disagree.

Don’t get me wrong, of course I am aware that Newcastle have not won many trophies in recent years and that other clubs have. The first point here is that I would not stay at Newcastle if I did not believe that winning leagues and cups was within us. The second is that the business of accumulating silverware and titles and having a splendid trophy cabinet to look at in my retirement is no longer the absolute priority.

This reflects the way my thinking has developed over recent years. I used to write down in little black books my goals and ambitions and usually I would be writing that I wanted to win this and that – in fact, I wanted to win pretty much everything. I still do. The day you stop wanting to win everything is the day to quit. It is just that trophy accumulation is no longer top of my priority list.

Anyone who knows me will know that I do not talk about the highlights much – as in the trophies. Except when asked, I hardly ever mention the 2003 World Cup. There is a reason for that; I enjoy the experience of rugby and rugby teams, the day-to-day business of teamship and the smile that gives me and, when I am retired, that is what I will look back on and talk about with pride.

What I will judge my career on is not my medals but my contribution. I want to get the best out of myself and the people around me. So top of my priority list is being part of a team who give me the opportunity to do that, to be challenged every day and to fulfil my potential.

I believe I can do that at Newcastle and although, in the short term, it does not look as though we are going to win as many trophies as other teams, I want to help the club to get to the point where they can.

Have I been blinded by loyalty? No. Of course I feel loyal to the people who pay me and the people around me. But I would be making this decision if I had been at the club for only a year. And if I had never been through those three years of injury when Newcastle were so loyal to me, it would still be the same. I am not staying because I feel I am indebted here. It is because I can grow and be successful and enjoy it here.

It has been put to me that I would benefit more from playing behind a pack that goes forward more. This is pretty harsh on my Falcons pack, but although I realise from first-hand experience with England that playing behind a dominant pack helps you to play well, I would say that I would feel pretty cheap if I were to leave Newcastle for a life where I did not have to tackle that much and could sit in the box seat and simply direct things.

I enjoy the confrontation, the tackling and taking the ball into contact. If you took that away from me, I do not know how much I would want to play.

Does this harm my England future? That is honestly not a point I considered much. I would feel awkward going to another club just to help me to get more caps. And I truly believe that I am competing for an England place on the back of how I am performing rather than how many trophies I have lifted. The Guinness Premiership is a very competitive league and I would like to think that that is the level playing field on which my form can be assessed.

Finally, I should mention Steve Black, my real mentor in the game and, until recently, on the Falcons staff. I cannot go into the reasons why he is not at the club any more, but I will say that when I heard he was leaving and I thought that he would not be around any more, that was one of the worst days of my rugby life.

But thankfully, between us, nothing much has changed. He is still near, I still see him a few times a week and we talk most days. If that was not the case then the decision to stay at Newcastle might have been considerably harder.

But now it is done, I have signed the contract and I am happy that it will only contribute to my fulfilment in the game. I actually think it will bring me the odd trophy, too.