D’Arcy: I didn’t pull out of 2005 Test

AS The &Lions’ latest arrival, Gordon D’Arcy, sat poolside at the team’s base in Bloemfontein yesterday, he cut a tired yet contented figure.

The Ireland centre had been on holiday in the US with friends when he got the call that his services were required in South Africa due to the tourists’ midfield injury worries. An arduous trip ensued, at the end of which he was then told he would be on the bench for today’s clash with The Cheetahs.

Unsurprising, then, that D’Arcy, less than 24 hours after his belated arrival, was reluctant to be drawn on the controversy surrounding his involvement in the Lions Tour of New Zealand in 2005, during which the then head coach Clive Woodward allegedly suggested to the press that the player had ruled himself out of the final Test against the All Blacks because of tiredness.

When the issue was raised, D’Arcy took the opportunity to draw a line under the affair.

“Look, I’ll put it this way: I’ve never in my life pulled out of a game of rugby,” he stated. “I’m not going to reopen old wounds but all I can say is that I was very disappointed with the way in which it was channelled into the media.

“I nearly fell over when I heard it.”

D’Arcy insisted that he never told Woodward he would not be making himself available for selection.

“I’m not going to go into too much detail on it but there were two people involved in the conversation,” he explained.

“I can’t tell you what went through his head or why he said it but all I know is that I didn’t pull out.”

He added: “I don’t really want to talk about 2005. I’m out here now and Geech (current head coach Ian McGeechan) has put me straight onto the bench. I’ve been given a great opportunity and I just want to take it.”

It is the right attitude as D’Arcy has little time in which to prove himself worthy of a place in the Test XV, particularly in light of the terrific form of Cardiff Blues inside centre Jamie Roberts over the past week.

However, the Heineken Cup winner is confident that he can yet force his way into the reckoning.

“There are plenty of games left on the tour. I’ve come out to fill in for certain injury worries but if I can carry my form into this tour you never know what could happen,” he said.

“Jamie Roberts and Brian (O’Driscoll) obviously played fantastically well on Wednesday – they did everything right. But in the same way that I always had a little candle burning that I might make it out here, I have a little candle burning that I can make the Test side.”