Gordon D'Arcy injured his right arm when tackling Andrea Masi during Ireland's Six Nations win over Italy at Croke Park in February. Scans revealed that he had broken his arm in seven places with the injury requiring the insertion of a six inch titanium plate in his forearm.

But the Wexford man, who had been hoping to return for Leinster's Magners League title run-in, had to go under the knife again a couple of weeks agp as one of the breaks had not healed sufficiently.

He had a sliver of bone from his elbow grafted to the damaged area in his arm, meaning he will be sidelined and require treatment for another month and will miss Ireland's summer tour to New Zealand and Australia.

D'Arcy, who will return to contact work when Leinster's pre-season training begins, said: "(The injury's) good now. I had another operation on it just two weeks ago, but it seems to be going the right direction this time."

So is it frustrating missing out on the summer tour?

"It was two weeks ago and I've kind of gotten over it now. Of course it's disappointing not being able to line out for your country but I’m looking at the positives now," the 28-year-old admitted.

"I'm going to get a nice long break and get all of my injuries sorted and I get to do a little bit of travelling. I'll be fresh as a daisy with a nice long pre-season and be looking forward (to the new season). It's a big year next year for me."

Giving his opinion on the choice of Declan Kidney as Ireland's new head coach, D'Arcy added: "Yeah, it's a good appointment. Declan, I know him very well and he is a good man. I suppose every experience I've had with him, I've always enjoyed being one of his players and I'm looking forward to playing again with him."

Next season Croke Park will be visited by New Zealand, Argentina, France and England - four of the world's top seven sides - as part of a difficult-looking fixture list.

"We want to win the championship. Next year we have the big two (France and England) again at Croke Park so it's going to be tough," D'Arcy said, looking ahead to the 2009 Six Nations championship.

"It will be a tough tournament. Wales are on a high going into next year. I think we just have to go out and play as well as we possibly can.

"In the next couple of years there's going to be a turnover in players for this group, this special group of players that we have.

"We just have to put back-to-back performances together and be very, I suppose, single-minded. Hopefully Declan will bring that to the table."

Read Gordon D'Arcy's thoughts on Leinster.