RUGBY: D’arcy to say goodbye to Leinster
By Daire Walsh
IT was a quiet weekend for the rugby provinces in Ireland, who had to look on as teams from England, Scotland and France contested the European Rugby Challenge Cup and Champions Cup Finals on Friday and Saturday respectively.
Although Edinburgh were the only team from the Pro12 involved, Round 21 of the league won’t get underway until this Friday evening, when Leinster will take on Benetton Treviso in their final home game of the current campaign.
The failure of Matt O’Connor’s side to qualify for the Guinness Pro12 play-offs means that there will be a strangely subdued atmosphere for the contest, but the big news emanating from the Leinster camp this week surrounded the future of veteran centre Gordon D’Arcy.
His absence from the list of recent contract renewals at the province increased speculation that he was set to announce his retirement, and even though he has now negotiated terms with the IRFU, he will hang up his boots at the end of October.
Having first made his debut for Leinster as an 18-year-old in 1998, it may well take D’Arcy time to adjust to life outside of professional sport, but there may well be an additional chapter to his illustrious career, as the former Clongowes Wood College student has made himself available to Joe Schmidt for the forthcoming Rugby World Cup.
With strong midfield options in all four provinces, D’Arcy is probably fighting a losing battle in his bid to make the final squad, but he would undoubtedly provide a valuable option for the much-anticipated competition.
His 82 international caps (including one appearance for the British & Irish Lions) gives an insight into the experience that D’Arcy could still offer, and with 260 games under his belt with Leinster, he has been a consistent presence at provincial and international level.
His centre partnership with Brian O’Driscoll was consistently brilliant throughout the past decade, when they amassed an astonishing total of 175 tries between them.
Meanwhile, three Kildare natives have been included in the Ireland squad for the World Rugby U20 Championship, which gets underway in Parma, Italy on June 2. Billy Dardis, Jeremy Loughman and Joey Carberry all featured for Nigel Carolan’s outfit in this year’s U20 Six Nations Championship, and it is no surprise to see them retaining their places in the 28-strong panel.
Dardis has previous experience in this tournament (which was formerly known as the Junior World Championship), and he is joined by seven players who received game time in New Zealand 12 months ago.
That was Mike Ruddock’s swansong as U20 supremo (he is now concentrating solely on his duties with Lansdowne in the Ulster Bank League), and it was an encouraging one for the Green Army, who finished fourth overall.
Despite recording back-to-back triumphs over Italy and France at the beginning of the Six Nations, the Ireland U20s subsequently fell short against England, Wales and Scotland. They will have a shot at redemption against the Scots in Pool C, though, and will also face crunch encounters with New Zealand and Argentina.