D'Arcy named player of the Six Nations

Ireland centre Gordon D’Arcy has been rewarded for his sparkling form in the RBS 6 Nations by being named player of the championship.

D’Arcy scored half the 12,000 votes cast – four times as many as team-mate Paul O’Connell who finished in second place – in a poll run by the BBC Sport website.

The little Leinster back forged a blistering midfield partnership with Brian O’Driscoll and was in such fine from that he made the number 13 jersey his own, even forcing O’Driscoll to move to inside centre.

“It’s flattering to win this award by such a large margin. What can I say? It’s been a dream, this last couple of months,” said D’Arcy.

“Since Christmas everything seems to have gone right, so to win something like this is the icing on the cake.

“Having played for Ireland before and not really made any impact, I know I have to work even harder now to stay where I am.”

England winger Ben Cohen finished third in the vote, Gareth Thomas of Wales fourth and France’s powerhouse flanker Serge Betsen polled fifth.