Wood cuts a forlorn figure. (Getty Images)

Ireland captain Keith Wood described his final World Cup campaign as the highlight of his career as he made an emotional departure from all levels of rugby after Ireland lost 43-21 to France in their World Cup quarter-final in Melbourne.

Wood's career began in 1994 and covered 58 Ireland caps, five Lions Tests and three World Cups, and it came to a stark end in the after-match press conference.

"That's it," he said simply, "I'm going to hang up my boots from all rugby so it's a doubly sad day today."

He then picked the current campaign as the pinnacle, above even the Lions tours to South Africa and Australia.

"The Lions were fantastic but being involved in this World Cup, this particular set-up, this group of players is very special," said Wood, now 31.

"I would have liked to have been here for another couple of weeks but this has been the highlight.

"I knew I was going to retire at the end of whenever Ireland's involvement was but I hadn't quite gone through the cataloguing of what I really liked or didn't like through my career. I've had lots of great days."

At the final whistle Wood and veteran French scrum-half Fabien Galthie embraced and exchanged words, having done battle against each other over many years for their respective countries.

"It was him or me tonight, and I gave him my sincere wishes that he retires with the trophy," said Wood.

"We've been good friends for a long, long time. We've had an awful lot of good days and bad days on either side and we've a very good relationship," he said.

"It would do that man justice if he walks away with the World Cup at the end of it."

And Galthie said after the match he had wanted to make sure he said a proper goodbye to his old foe.

"We have met several times and we are good friends and I wanted to go over and congratulate him for a very good game and very good career," said Galthie.

French coach Bernard Laporte joined his captain in praising the efforts of Wood over a wonderful career.

"We have to congratulate Keith for his contribution to rugby," said Laporte.

"He was not just a good player, he was a great man and I went over to congratulate him for all he has done for rugby."

Wood himself ruled out the likelihood of a quick transition to coaching, saying he would not handle the pressure as well as current Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan.

"I don't have the temperament for a coach, and I've known that for a long time. Eddie might be a cranky man but he isn't as cranky as I am," he quipped.

But the most glowing praise for Wood came from O'Sullivan, who kept faith with his captain despite neck and shoulder injuries and selected him for the tournament.

"I think we have just lost a legend from the game of rugby and someone that will be known well after he is gone," said O'Sullivan.

"His name will live on and I think it's a very special day, not just in Irish rugby but in world rugby," he said.

"He was written off by everybody about 14 months ago when a disc in his neck leaked and then he wrecked his shoulder in December.

"The measure of the man is that he came back and we said the World Cup was his goal, and nobody put more into this World Cup than Keith Wood. To finish today losing is tough."

O'Sullivan in particular identified the professionalism of his captain in getting himself back to full fitness as his greatest strength.

"From a rugby point of view I think I described him once as the identikit of the professional rugby player and that's about the highest thing you can say about him.

"The man pursues his profession as assiduously as he can, every minute of the day to become the best player that he can be at any time." "We've seen the retirement of a legend and I don't think he can be replaced."

France lock Fabien Pelous admitted the first half had felt like an almost perfect performance as all the preparation paid off.

"We played the game the way we expected," said Pelous.

"We worked hard during the week and we knew how to go about it."

We felt that we were going through the moves we rehearsed all week, so it all worked."

Captain Fabien Galthie agreed that preparation was the secret to the win.

"This game was more difficult than the game against Scotland," said Galthie.

"The end result is that when you prepare well you get a good result."

Coach Bernard Laporte believed the win, which included four tries and an impressive all-round game, proved that France have the resources to win the tournament.

"We are here to win the World Cup. We don't care who the opposition is going to be. We have the means to win and we will give it all we've got."