Gordon D’Arcy On Who He Thinks Should Start In The Centre For Ireland
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Midfield.
For many years Gordon D’Arcy along with Brian O’Driscoll formed one of the best midfield partnerships in world rugby for both club and country.
The pair won European Cups and Six Nations titles and were a match for any midfield partnership on their day. But on the back of their respective retirements, Irish Rugby struggled in the centre for many years.
Fast forward to now and it’s the complete opposite. Ireland have more high-level centres than they can accommodate and as a result – some really good centres are going to miss out Six Nations selection later this month.
As things stand, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw, Stuart McCloskey and Chris Farrell are all in the Ireland squad but only two of them can start in midfield come game day.
So who does Gordon D’Arcy reckons should start? Speaking on this week’s episode of the Up & Under Podcast, D’Arcy said it’s hard to look past Bundee Aki given his recent form.
“At the moment it’s hard to look past [Bundee] Aki with what he’s doing at Connacht in the moment. He kinda gets the mainstay I’d say,” D’Arcy said.
“And you’re kind of building off around that.
“Chris Farrell is probably unlucky not playing in the last week or so to try and put his case forward.
“And Garry Ringrose skippering Leinster probably looks like he’ll probably get the nod. So an Aki and Garry Ringrose centre partnership with possibly Henshaw being able to cover the multiple positions from the bench.”