Wednesday 18 July 2018 21:02, UK
Wales coach Warren Gatland says Sam Warburton was "one of the best and most respected players in the world".
Warburton has announced his retirement from the sport after a superb career, having decided his health and well-being need to take priority after missing last season due to injury.
Gatland and Warburton have teamed up to superb effect with Wales and the British & Irish Lions since the flanker burst onto the scene in 2009.
Warburton led Wales to a World Cup semi-final in 2011 and a Grand Slam in 2012, before skippering the Lions to a series win in Australia in 2013 and a hugely creditable draw with the all-conquering All Blacks last year.
Gatland coached all of those teams and said: "It is hugely disappointing that Sam has retired from the game.
"He is an outstanding rugby player and he has brought so much to the game, on and off the pitch.
"His leadership, attitude and demeanour, along with his performances, have placed Sam up there as one of the best and most respected players in the world.
"He finishes with a record that he should be extremely proud of and should look back on his career with huge pride.
"In a Test career full of great moments, one in particular sticks in my mind.
"His captaincy in the third Test for the Lions in New Zealand, in a game finely balanced and potentially historic, was exemplary. The New Zealand media were mightily impressed by him, and rightly so.
"I hope he can take the time to reflect on a magnificent career and I hope he gets as much pleasure from whatever he does next as he has brought to the people of Wales and the wider rugby public."
WRU chief executive Martyn Phillips said: "Sam has left the jersey in a better place, which is the goal I know most, if not all, Welsh players set themselves.
"The way that Sam has conducted himself as Wales and Lions captain, on and off the pitch, has been exemplary.
"Even the manner in which he has made this extraordinarily tough decision demonstrates the quality of leader he has become.
"Sam has had a remarkable influence on the pitch for Wales and I suspect will have a remarkable influence off the pitch for many years to come."
Warburton has spent his entire career with Cardiff Blues, making his debut in April 2009 and getting his first international cap just two months later.
Blues head coach John Mulvihill said: "I met with Sam and he informed me of his decision and his reasons behind it.
"He is a world-class player and person and was more concerned about letting myself and the Cardiff Blues family down, rather than his immediate future.
"As a player, person and role model in rugby he has nothing else to prove. His class and achievements will stand the test of time.
"He is a Welsh rugby and Cardiff Blues legend and we all wish him and his young family much love, health and happiness in the future."
