Marshall ready to answer the call

For a full decade now, the Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy midfield axis has survived and thrived in the pell-mell that is international rugby but the durable duo are on borrowed time.

Their status as the most frequently used starting centre partnership in the Test arena was superseded by Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu last month when the All-Blacks trumped South Africa at Ellis Park.

The Irish pair may or may not catch up again over the course of the November internationals but, with O’Driscoll retiring this season and D’Arcy approaching his 34th birthday, their time together is clearly finite.