At the moment he is number two out-half in the country and we are very lucky he stayed involved as long as he did. But David's very much a family man and it was a huge commitment that he gave in recent times and there isn't a person in the camp that doesn't appreciate what he did.

He was a professional rugby player with his province and his nation but he has a family and all that was taking its toll.

We have to wish him well and move on but looking back, the competition between himself and Ronan [O'Gara] was great and of huge benefit to the side. Even though they were competing for the same position, they were very good friends and David was always very helpful. Especially in Ronan's younger days, when he had just arrived onto the scene.

David was important in his progression; that was the nature of the relationship they had and that's the type of person David is. He's a consummate professional but a gentleman as well.

I suppose when I think back over all the years, two moments stand out for me. I remember in my first year as assistant coach we were playing Scotland. The game was finely balanced and he read a pass from the Scottish out-half, Gregor Townsend, and intercepted and hacked the ball down the field. He scored a crucial try that turned the game. I suppose the other moment that stands out was in the World Cup pool game against Australia when he had a fantastic drop-goal attempt that just slipped wide at the last minute. I think that had it gone over, we would have won the World Cup pool, but they are the kind of salient moments.

More recently I'm sure it was frustrating for him sitting on the bench during the Six Nations. David's a competitive athlete and he wants to be on the team but I think his retirement was imminent anyway. He's been speaking about it for a number of years and even with Ulster for the last number of years he's been talking about this being the final season. I think it was a case of winding the thing up family-wise and that has always been a possibility.

In recent years the commitment has grown enormously with professionalism and it has meant even more time away from home for players who are heavily involved in the national team.

It's four to five months a year at present which is colossal.

And this is a player who started out in the amateur era so of course it was a big change and David would be the last of the guys who straddled both eras. He would have come onto the Irish team at the tail end of the amateur game. The other guys who'd have been in that situation would have been Keith Wood, Mick Galwey and Peter Clohessy.

Yet even with the World Cup coming up his decision wasn't a surprise to me, because between now and then the commitment is going to be massive in terms of time away so it was always going to be very difficult for him to stay on. I think he weighed it up carefully and he would have liked to stay on but the whole family commitment aspect was there and the commitment is not going to get any less, it's going to get more.

There was talk before the Six Nations about his future and all of that was blown out of proportion. I spoke to David regularly and he said that he hadn't made his mind up and that he wouldn't make his mind up until after the Six Nations. And he made a statement to that effect, confirming that and I just thought his integrity was drawn into question. He's a very honest guy, and a gentleman and I was happy to back him in his choice. We both said we'd sit down after the Six Nations and make a choice and that's what we did and we have to accept that.

But the guy has had a fantastic career. He's one of the great Irish out-halfs. At the minute there isn't an obvious choice as a replacement, and that's the problem. We don't have a ready-made replacement at this moment in time but that's now something we'll have to look at and deal with.