D’Arcy In Line For Return

Leinster and Ireland centre Gordon D’Arcy showed signs of a potentially quick comeback from his hamstring injury, by taking part in the squad warm-down after Sunday’s 19-13 defeat of England.

The visit of France to Dublin on March 12 must be the goal now for the 25-year-old, who sat and watched the Lansdowne Road tussle with the World champions, seated beside Manchester United and Republic of Ireland midfielder Roy Keane.

D’Arcy took a full part in the warm-down which must have pleased coach Eddie O’Sullivan.

It could prove to be good timing as his Leinster team mate Shane Horgan has been ruled out of the France game with a minor fracture to his right thumb. After seeing a specialist on Monday, Horgan was told that the injury would keep him out of the game on March 12th, but he may still be able to play against Wales the following week.

After banking his 31st win in 42 Test games, O’Sullivan said: “There were periods of the game when England were very dominant. They played great rugby and were stretching the ball from touchline to touchline and very aggressively.

We had to defend, not just heroically. We needed to throw our bodies on the line and know when and how to throw our bodies on the line. We showed great discipline and that is why they had very few kicks at goal.

“I have to take my hat off to the men. The forwards played well. The lineout is as good as any in the world and we delivered some good quality possession for the backs. It is all the pieces of the jigsaw coming together against the top teams in the world,” he added.

He also reserved some praise for Wasps flanker Johnny O’Connor – whose haul of 14 tackles contributed greatly in his first full 80 minutes.

“He was able to dog it out for 80 minutes in what is a war zone. Johnny is not the biggest guy in the pack – but he certainly punches above his weight.

“We watched him closely with 15 to go and he was still doing the business, still knocking people down, still making a nuisance of himself at the breakdown and he was right on the pace of the game. He is growing into being an international very quickly.”