England's 2007 World Cup captain Phil Vickery has hailed his former international colleague Andrew Sheridan as "world class", after the Toulon prop was forced to announce his retirement from rugby.

Sheridan, 34, has failed to recover from a neck injury he suffered last season, and announced his retirement with immediate effect today.

"The thing for me with Andrew is that he always made me smile inside. I loved captaining him," Vickery told PA.

"I hear people all the time using the words world class, and Andrew was world class because whoever he played against I knew the opposition had to talk about him and had to have a plan to deal with him. That's someone who is world class.

"He set the standards. I think his professionalism was superb. He was an amazing ball carrier, and he had such strength and power, allied to his ability at scrum time."

Sheridan represented England on 40 occasions, and played in two Tests for the British and Irish Lions.