Former England player Josh Lewsey said in an interview published Sunday he was quitting club side Wasps and would begin focusing on his next challenge - scaling Mount Everest.

Lewsey, a member of the England team that won the World Cup in 2003, also told the Sunday Times he would join accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers as a management consultant after the arduous climb was completed.

"I am 32 and I suppose I could have gone on for a few more years," Lewsey told the weekly newspaper.

"But Vanessa (his wife) is finishing her doctorate, you have to think about real life and responsibility, the possibility of a family."

Lewsey won 55 caps in all, after making his England debut on the infamous 1998 'Tour From Hell', and also appeared in three Tests for the British and Irish Lions during their losing tour of New Zealand three years ago.

He told the newspaper he would begin training for scaling Everest at the end of the summer with Keith Reesby, an army major who will accompany him up the mountain.

"Rugby has been my home, I have played it since I was four but it is time for the next step and the next challenge," he said.

"In life, that is where the excitement comes from. Everest is seen as the ultimate challenge. It has been a goal of mine since I was young."

Lewsey and Reesby have permits to climb Everest around July 2010, the Sunday Times said.

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