Former Ireland, Leinster and British and Irish Lions prop Jack McGrath has retired from rugby at the age of 33 as he wants to live "a pain-free life".
McGrath earned 56 caps for Ireland and was part of the side that won the Six Nations in 2014 and 2015, as well as a Grand Slam in 2018.
The Dublin native was also part of the Lions' 2017 tour of New Zealand, winning all three of his caps as a replacement.
He has struggled with a persistent hip injury and had been without a club since being released by Ulster at the end of the 2021-22 season.
In a statement posted on his personal Instagram account on Thursday, McGrath officially brought down the curtain on his playing career.
"This decision has taken a considerable amount of time. It has been one of the hardest I've ever had to make," McGrath said.
"The last few years have been extremely testing for myself and my family, both mentally and physically.
"I feel I have given everything to my rugby career and I have no regrets or anything left to prove. It's been a long road of rehabilitation after two hip resurfacing operations.
"My main focus now is my family and I am excited for this next chapter with them.
"I am in a position now where I have a comfortable, pain-free life and can be an active dad, which I have chosen over going back to play rugby."
McGrath won three domestic titles, along with trophy successes in the European Challenge Cup and European Champions Cup, during nine successful years with Leinster, before joining Ulster in 2019, where appearances were limited.
Dan Sheehan says Ireland ‘fully aware of what we need to do’ against Scotland
Hooker Dan Sheehan admits it would be “stupid” of Ireland’s players to be unfamiliar with complex permutations which could extinguish their Rugby World Cup dream.
Andy Farrell’s men will top Pool B and qualify for the quarter-finals by avoiding defeat in Saturday evening’s crucial Paris clash with Scotland.
Ireland could even progress to the last eight with a loss but that would be dependent on the Scots’ margin of victory and bonus points gained.
View this post on InstagramSheehan is eager to avoid “over-hyping” a pivotal Stade de France showdown which will also determine the fate of reigning champions South Africa.
While the 25-year-old hopes to emphatically banish any prospect of elimination by helping his country register a 17th consecutive success, he insists Ireland’s squad are au fait with all possible scenarios.
“We’re all aware of the different little permutations, but our job is to go out and win a game,” said Sheehan.
“I’m sure there’ll be scenarios throughout that, if we find ourselves in a situation, we’ll know what to do, and it would be stupid of us not to know it going into a match.
“Of course everyone is fully aware of what we need to do at what time and depending on what the scoreline is.”
South Africa top arguably the competition’s toughest pool with 15 points from their four games, with Ireland and Scotland on 14 and 10 respectively ahead of what could be a tense encounter in the French capital.
Tournament regulations state teams level on the same number of points at the end of the group stage will be separated by their head-to-head result in the first instance.
However, in the event of a three-way tie, the nation with the best overall points difference will top the pool, with head-to-head then used to rank the other two.
View this post on Instagram“Obviously there is a lot on the line, especially this week,” said Sheehan.
“But I think we probably stick to the same procedures in regards to preparation.
“I think you can be in danger of over-hyping a game or getting too feared up about an occasion, so realistically it’s pretty similar to a Test match, but obviously everyone knows that there is a lot on the line.”
The weight of expectation is firmly on in-form Ireland, with comments from Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and head coach Jacques Nienaber ramping up the pressure.
Sheehan is uninterested in the outside noise and pays no attention to press coverage.
“I don’t read or contribute to any sports media really,” he told reporters.
“I was just like that as a kid, I wasn’t really interested in… in your job, really.
“It’s just another Test week for me and I sort of focus very much on what’s going on in the camp and what people tell me within the camp.”
Leinster man Sheehan is pushing for a full World Cup debut this weekend.
He returned from a foot injury as a replacement in Ireland’s 13-8 win over South Africa on September 23 following a layoff which also allowed him to rehabilitate shoulder and hip niggles .
“I feel in a great place, probably the fittest and the best condition I have been in a long time,” said Sheehan.
“It was nice to have that rehab window, where you can focus on other things as well. The body is in great shape.”
Danny Care: England taking inspiration from Europe’s Ryder Cup win at World Cup
Danny Care insists England will resume their World Cup quest armed with inspiration from Europe’s stirring Ryder Cup victory.
Care was among four England players to send a good luck message to Luke Donald’s team from a golf course in Le Touquet, where Steve Borthwick’s squad are based ahead of the final Pool D game against Samoa.
Europe emerged 16½-11½ winners against the United States on Sunday and for Care one aspect in particular stood out about their performance.
“Team spirit is the reason the best teams are successful,” the veteran Harlequins scrum-half said.
“I don’t know many environments where you wouldn’t have a good team spirit and the team ends up winning a tournament or a league or a trophy at the end of it.
“I was an outsider watching the Ryder Cup but they looked more aligned and close than the American team did.
“You could see it, you could feel it just watching on the screens. You could see how much it meant to them. That’s definitely something we’re trying to harness – how much it means to us.
“Europe hung in together, fought for everything. Those little half points that they saved. We can definitely take some inspiration from those lads.
“The golf they played was unbelievable. We haven’t shown much of that in Le Touquet, some of our lads!”
England have forged their own winning path so far in the World Cup, polishing off Argentina, Japan and Chile with plenty to spare.
Even with Samoa left to play they have qualified for the quarter-finals as group winners to continue an impressive revival since losing three of their four warm-up Tests in August.
“Sometimes you have to go through some bad stuff to get to the good stuff,” Care said.
“Maybe our bad stuff was those warm-up games, to get us to look at ourselves and go ‘Right, we need to pull together a little bit’. It’s going to take everyone to win this.”
England play Samoa in Lille on Saturday, with Borthwick naming his starting XV on Thursday evening.
Jonathan Humphreys urges Wales not to ‘go off-script’ against Georgia
Jonathan Humphreys says that Wales “cannot afford to go off-script” when they tackle Rugby World Cup opponents Georgia in Nantes on Saturday.
Wales need a point from their Pool C finale to win the group, having already secured a quarter-final place through beating Australia by a record 40-6 scoreline nine days ago.
They lost 13-12 at home to Georgia when the countries last met almost a year ago, and Wales assistant coach Humphreys has emphasised a fierce sense of determination in the camp.
“There has been a bit of an edge about training, which is what we want,” forwards specialist Humphreys said.
“We are just keen to continue the progress that we’ve shown. That is a big driving force for us, and we have talked constantly about that.
“I expect them (Georgia) to play a bit, and they are strong up-front – we are under no illusion about that.
“They are a dangerous outfit, and we cannot afford to go off-script.”
Few could have imagined Wales reaching the last eight just 11 months after Georgia triumphed 13-12 in Cardiff, and Humphreys added: “We’ve had five months together. We are more like a club team than an international team.
“We came in earlier than most teams, we know what we wanted to improve and we haven’t deviated from that.
“Probably the messages that went out in May, they haven’t changed at all.
“Every day, it has been working on those fundamentals that we felt were important and would make a difference.”
Wales head coach Warren Gatland has made six changes for the Georgia clash, with Dewi Lake captaining a side that also sees starts for wing Rio Dyer, fly-half Gareth Anscombe, scrum-half Tomos Williams, lock Dafydd Jenkins and flanker Tommy Reffell.
Centre Nick Tompkins will continue his midfield partnership with George North, meanwhile, and look to maintain the form that has made him among Wales’ most impressive performers at the tournament.
“We want no dip in our performance,” Tompkins said.
“We want to get better, we don’t want to take our foot off the pedal – that’s the last thing we want. We want confidence and momentum and to keep on going.
“I want to just keep getting better and keep pushing myself. There are a lot of things I need to improve on.
“I am happy with some areas, but there are some things I really need to push myself on.
“You look at some of the other centres out there and how well they are doing, and you want to emulate that.
“Being together as a squad for five months means you can have those little conversations and make little tweaks.
“You are all looking for little things to tweak and improve. It has been really healthy, and it has been all of us pushing each other.”
Tompkins has also voiced his support for the World Cup bunker system, whereby incidents of foul play can be referred and a yellow card retained or upgraded to red.
“I like it,” Tompkins added.
“Decisions are tough at the moment anyway, referees are under a lot of a pressure to keep the game moving quickly and get the right decision.
“I think it is brilliant, I like that model. To cut down the pressure we put on referees, especially, is good.”
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