Former Scotland prop Geoff Cross is to hang up his boots after announcing his retirement.
The 33-year-old tight-head started his professional career with Borders Reivers in 2003 before going on to have stints with Edinburgh, Glasgow and finally London Irish.
He made his international debut during the 2009 RBS 6 Nations against Wales and went on to win 40 caps for the Dark Blues, including two appearances at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.
The qualified doctor - who will return to caring for patients now that his playing days are over - said: "I have enjoyed my time at London Irish, but I feel the time is now right to move my attention towards returning to medicine which I intend to achieve by next summer.
"London Irish is a club steeped in history and tradition, and the foundations are very much in place for it to make an immediate return to the Aviva Premiership.
"Representing my country was the pinnacle of my career, and to have played 40 times for Scotland fills me with immense pride. I feel very privileged to have fulfilled a lifetime ambition and to have made memories which will last a lifetime. I'm now however focused on the next chapter, one that I'm very much looking forward to."
Head of rugby operations at London Irish, Glenn Delaney said: "Geoff has had a fabulous playing career that has seen him play at the very highest level for Scotland, and he has been a great professional to have at London Irish both on and off the field.
"I speak on behalf of everyone connected to the Club in wishing Geoff and his family all the very best for the future."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here