Warwick forced to call it a day

Former Munster star Paul Warwick has been forced to retire from the game due to a neck injury.

The Worcester Warriors player, who made 95 appearances for Munster between 2007 and 2011 after joining them from Connacht, left Munster for Stade Francais. He moved to England last year and made 18 appearances for the Warriors before picking up an injury.

“Tough news today, I have to retire from rugby on neck specialist recommendations!” he tweeted on Friday night.

“It’s sad and unexpected but I feel blessed for what I have achieved and the people I have had the pleasure to play rugby with!”

Warwick thanked Connacht, Munster, Stade Francais and Worcester Warriors “for the opportunities to express myself”.

Warwick was on the bench for the 2008 Heineken Cup final victory and won two Celtic Leagues with the province. Interestingly, some of his best games were against international opposition. He kicked all Munster’s points in the 2010 15-6 win over Australia and fired kicks Munster to a 18-16 loss in the historic 2008 meeting with the All Blacks.

“The New Zealand game was fantastic to be involved in,” he said recently.

“They put out a strong team and had been primed for battle. We had Denis Leamy, Rua Tipoki, Peter Stringer, Doug Howlett and myself but, other than that, there were no regular starters. It was all Academy guys but they came from that Munster environment. It was all based on the high standards that we held each other up to.”