Garry Ringrose has paid tribute to Greig Oliver, with the Ireland and Leinster star saying the death of the Munster coach has left everyone involved in Irish rugby "shocked and saddened".
Ringrose, 28, knew the former Scottish international, having been coached by him at underage level.
Oliver died in a paragliding accident in Cape Town on Tuesday. The 58-year-old was in South Africa to support his son, Jack, who is a member of the Ireland under-20 squad competing in the World Rugby Championships.
"His passing puts everything into perspective," said Ringrose. "He's someone I dealt with in the past in underage and he was a huge help to me.
"I know most people that are in an Ireland jersey at the moment would say the same thing. Everyone is shocked and saddened.
"My thoughts are with his young lad over in South Africa at the moment and, of course, the rest of his family.
"It's just tragic and upsetting to hear. All of my thoughts, and everyone else's thoughts and prayers are with his family."
The National Sea Rescue Institute in South Africa say that Oliver was a tandem passenger in a paraglide that was flying over the promenade in Cape Town when his aircraft hit another in the air.
The rescue team freed Oliver from his paragliding gear and performed CPR on the rocks, but he was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
He had moved to Ireland with his family in 2007 and, four years later, assumed the role of Elite Player Development Officer with the Munster Rugby Academy, playing an instrumental role in developing Munster players for life in professional rugby.
He also held coaching roles with the Ireland under-20s, the Munster ‘A’ squad and the province’s age-grade sides, and had previously been Garryowen's Director of Rugby.
Ringrose played under Oliver at under-19 and under-20 level. “Pretty formative years," said the 28-year-old.
"Post-school, sub academy and academy with Ireland, that's when I would have dealt with him and I would have continued to deal with him up at the HPC.
"It doesn’t feel that long ago that I met him up there, I think there was a coach’s development thing and he was there with Munster.
"He was slagging me about Munster-Leinster not too long ago so, yeah, it was gut wrenching when I heard the news.”
