The highs and lows of what has been an eventful career for Gordon D’Arcy

With Gordon D’Arcy announcing his retirement after the World Cup, we look back on the career of the Leinster and Ireland international. D’Arcy who has 81 caps for Ireland and has racked up more than 200 appearances for Leinster has enjoyed a lot of success during his 17 seasons as a Rugby player but has also had to overcome difficult times in his career.

After enjoying a promising career at schools Rugby with Clongowes Wood College, D’Arcy earned a contract with Leinster and made his debut for the province in 1998 in a league match against Llanelli. After impressing with Leinster in his first season with the club he was picked in Ireland’s World Cup squad in 1999 and made his debut in a pool game against Romania. After the World Cup D’Arcy began to become a regular starter for Leinster but his performances did not catch the eye of Ireland’s coaches with D’Arcy having to wait until 2002 for his second test appearance in a green Jersey. As a result D’Arcy failed to make the squad for the 2003 World Cup.

The 2003/4 season was a defining moment in D’Arcy’s career. After putting in impressive performances for Leinster, he earned himself a starting spot in Ireland’s opening game in the 2004 Six Nations against France. The game ended in defeat for Ireland but D’Arcy kept his place in the side for the remaining games and was instrumental in Ireland winning the triple crown. D’Arcy was also named as the player of the tournament.

After cementing his place in the Ireland side, D’Arcy was picked for the British and Irish Lions squad for the series in New Zealand in 2005. However it would not have been the fondest of memories for the Wexford native. Having not featured in the first two tests, D’Arcy supposedly ruled himself out of the third test due to exhaustion. With New Zealand winning the first two tests and the series, D’Arcy received a lot of criticism from pundits and former Lions players that it was poor excuse to not play a test match. However D’Arcy insisted he had an ongoing shoulder injury and did not return to action until four months later, which suggests that the criticism he received was completely unjust.

D’Arcy has had his fair share of injuries during his career. None worse than in the opening game of the 2008 Six Nations against Italy when he sustained multiple fractures to his arm which raised doubts about his long-term future in the game. Having gone through three operations, D’Arcy was out for 11 months. Because of his lack of match fitness, D’Arcy was only named on the bench for the opening game of the 2009 Six Nations against France. However he made an instant impact coming off the bench to score a try. D’Arcy remained on the bench for the next two games before earning a starting spot in the remaining two games against Scotland and Wales and we all know how that ended. As well as winning the Grand Slam, D’Arcy was instrumental in Leinster winning the Heineken Cup only weeks later. He was most impressive in the semi-final win against Munster scoring a try in the first half and didn’t put a foot wrong in the final against Leicester Tigers.

After 2009, the medal collection got more and more impressive for D’Arcy winning two more Heineken Cup, two Pro12 titles and an Amlin Cup. He will also be delighted to have been part of two Six Nations Championships wins with his Country. Unfortunately his Leinster career will end on a sour note without any medals to add to his collection but could he end his Rugby career as a World Cup winner? We will wait and see.