Leinster back Niall Morris has announced his retirement from rugby due to a long-term ankle injury.
The 28-year-old had rejoined his home province over the summer following five seasons with the Leicester Tigers, but was unable to fully recover from a serious injury suffered last year.
The utility back featured in two preseason friendlies upon his Leinster return, but after feeling further discomfort in his ankle he has been advised to hang up his boots.
Morris said: "Unfortunately my ankle, which I fractured and dislocated in an incident against Bath in May 2015 and have rehabbed for 15 months, wasn't right after the Gloucester game, so I decided to seek further opinion and in the end I've been left with no choice but to retire from professional rugby."
Morris played eight times for Leinster before his 2011 move to Leicester, for whom he scored 18 tries in 75 appearances, including scoring in the Premiership final victory over Northampton in 2013.
He also played for Ireland's Under-20s team and the Emerging Ireland side.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen praised Morris's efforts to return from injury, saying: "Since Niall re-joined Leinster on a short term deal, he has worked incredibly hard to get himself back playing at the highest level.
"We could see during our games against Ulster and Gloucester the quality that Niall can bring to a team so we are very disappointed to hear that he now won't be able to continue playing."
