Dr Conor McCarthy has been officially appointed as the first medical director of the Irish Rugby Football Union.

A consultant rheumatologist at Dublin's Mater Hospital, Dr McCarthy is an expert in sports medicine and has been the medical officer for the national IRFU academy since 2000. He had a distinguished playing career, representing Ireland at schoolboy and university level, and Connacht at interprovincial level for six seasons, serving for a time as captain.

He sits on the board of the newly-established faculty of sports and exercise medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians and chaired its inaugural scientific meeting in Dublin last September, which focused on "sudden death in sport", among other topics.

Dr McCarthy is also a member of the medical advisory committee of the national coaching and training centre as well as teaching sports medicine programmes at both University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin.

His main focus will be to develop injury prevention protocols. In addition, he will co-ordinate the medical services, develop rugby-related medical research, the implementation of policies and also actively seek medical sponsorship.

In an IRFU statement Dr McCarthy said: "This is an extremely exciting time for Irish rugby given the unprecedented success of recent times, the build-up to the next World Cup and the new stadium proposal. Given the large remit of the role, I am very fortunate to have a strong medical committee to work with.

"On the field of play, I have an excellent medical team. Dr Gary O'Driscoll (recently appointed as Lions tour doctor) has many years of experience with this group of players. Our new national team physiotherapist Cameron Steele brings over five years of experience with Harlequins and our new physiotherapist and rehabilitation specialist Brian Green brings significant experience to the team with a background in American football."