World Cup-winner Michael Lynagh is a familiar face to UK rugby fans through his extensive TV work © Getty Images

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The Queensland Rugby Union has confirmed that former Australia fly-half Michael Lynagh is in a "stabilised condition" after suffering a stroke on Monday evening.

A QRU statement revealed that Lynagh, who won the World Cup with the Wallabies in 1991, was undergoing tests in the Royal Brisbane Hospital to discover the cause of the illness. He was admitted to hospital on Monday night after complaining of blurred vision and headaches following a long-haul flight from London, where he now lives, to Brisbane.

Lynagh, 48, won 72 Test caps and retired from international rugby in 1995 as the world record points scorer with 911, a total which remains an Australian record. An inspirational playmaker Lynagh, who also won 100 caps for Queensland, made his Test debut in 1984 and he was part of Australia's Grand Slam-winning team later that year.

He was vice-captain of Australia's World Cup-winning side in 1991 and after captaining Australia to the quarter-finals of the 1995 World Cup, he retired from international rugby and joined Saracens at the start of the professional era.

He was the club's first major signing after Nigel Wray had taken control of the club and he helped attract Philippe Sella, Francois Pienaar and Kyran Bracken to the club. Lynagh spent two years at Saracens, guiding them to a 48-18 victory over Wasps in the 1998 Tetley Bitter Cup final and he has been enrolled in the club's Hall of Fame.

A respected TV pundit, he has since been visited by former team-mates. Tim Horan was one of the first to see him after the incident and reported that the former Queensland Reds star was making a swift recovery.

Michael Lynagh undergoing MRI this morning. Up and walking. #Rugby #Noddy

— Tim Horan (@TimHoran12) April 18, 2012

Andrew Slack, who wrote Lynagh's biography, was shocked to hear of Lynagh's admission to hospital. "He lives in the UK now and he is back here to visit his family and just felt unwell on Monday night and headaches and various things and ended up in hospital, which I think was initially diagnosed as a stroke-type of event," Slack told ABC Radio. "But the doctors are still trying to work out exactly what has happened. Clearly he has got some issues from it some blurred vision and stuff.

"But I am led to believe he got up and went to the toilet at one stage, so there's not a lot known, but he's stayed very fit since retiring some years ago and so I think she is a bolt out of the blue."

World Cup-winning captain Nick Farr-Jones said:"NSW Rugby and the HSBC Waratahs join the wider Australian Rugby community in supporting Michael, his wife, children and parents at this difficult time.

"I personally had the privilege to play alongside Michael for a decade and developed a great trust and friendship. Michael is a fantastic person and a great team-mate, I am sure everyone in rugby will be supporting him, Isabella and their family at this time."