Ireland must stop the rot by bashing Boks — D’Arcy

Ireland centre Gordon D’Arcy has conceded this evening’s clash with South Africa is a must-win game in the wake of four Test defeats in a row.

Ireland’s last victory came with a home Six Nations win over Scotland and the losing streak began with a St Patrick’s Day mauling by England at Twickenham. A three-Test whitewash by the world champion All Blacks followed, ending with a record 60-0 defeat in the final rubber in June.

Another defeat would make it Ireland’s worst run of form since losing seven in a row back in 1997-98 and with vital world ranking points on the line ahead of the World Cup 2015 pool draw on December 3, D’Arcy, who will win his 70th cap tonight, agreed the losing streak had to end now.

“I suppose it comes down to a must-win game,” D’Arcy said. “I think there’s enough experience in this team from players who’ve had their back against the wall and had those must-win games.

“I didn’t know that’s the worst run but I think if you start looking at results you start taking your eye off the ball on the performance and that starts with the little things. If you’re uptight about the result, the performance doesn’t take care of itself. If we don’t focus on the performance we won’t get the right result.

“So while I’d love to say we’re definitely going to stop that rot, we can only do what we can and that is the performance. That is something we’ve talked about, working on the performance, the individual, the unit and the team performance.

“If we get that right I can say we will perform as best as we possibly can. And if we perform as best as we can then hopefully that will be enough to get the right result.”

D’Arcy also backed Munster wing Simon Zebo to justify his selection at full-back in just his second Irish Test appearance.

“I think there’s probably a little bit more made of his transition than there actually is. All the skills that transfer from the wing to the 15 are exactly the same, it’s just the number on his back.

“Probably the one thing you want from your 15 is strong decisions and just from being a rugby fan, watching Munster play and particularly in the Heineken Cups, Simon Zebo’s been making those strong decisions in the back three and his kicking ability and his attacking ability, he’s probably been the standout back in that back line.

“Really, really strong, confident decision-making, when you get that from a young guy, particularly from the back, that pushes right the way through the team.”