Injury rules Ireland's Flannery out of RWC

Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery has been ruled out of the remainder of Rugby World Cup 2011 after tearing a calf muscle in training.

Damien Varley has been called into the squad as his replacement and is expected to arrive in Auckland by Saturday.

Varley and Flannery play provincial rugby together at Munster and the latest addition to the Ireland squad has mixed emotions about benefiting from the misfortune of his teammate.

"There were a couple of emotions running through my head when I got the call from (coach) Declan (Kidney) inviting me to join up with the squad," Varley said on Thursday.

"The best possible compliment I can pay him (Flannery) is to make sure that I train hard down there and do whatever I can to help the squad be as successful as possible."

Sean Cronin will take Flannery's place on the bench for Ireland's match against Australia at Eden Park on Saturday.