Paul O'Connell's Ireland career ended by hamstring injury at Rugby World Cup

Paul O'Connell's Ireland career has come to a premature end after a hamstring injury ended his Rugby World Cup.

The captain, who turns 36 in a week, is moving to Toulon next season and therefore this World Cup campaign was his last with the IRFU.

On their official Twitter account, Irish Rugby revealed that O'Connell had been replaced in the squad by Mike McCarthy and said: "A leader, a warrior, a gentleman - @Paul_OConnell has played his last for Ireland."

The second-row forward suffered the injury, which requires surgery, during Ireland's 24-9 win over France on Sunday which saw them top Pool D at the tournament and advance through to a quarter-final against Argentina.

O'Connell scored eight tries in 108 appearances for Ireland. He is third on the all-time appearances list behind Brian O'Driscoll (133) and Ronan O'Gara (128) and one of only four players in three figures.