Gordon William D'Arcy ( born February 10, 1980 in Ferns ) [1] is an Irish rugby player who played in the center center for the Lansdowne amateur club, Pro14 Lester professional team and the national team Ireland. He played in 1998-2015, won three Heineken Cups as part of the Lenster, the European Challenge Cup and four Pro14 champion titles, the Irish national team won twice the Six Nations Cup and the 2009 Grand Slam as part of the British and Irish national team Lions ”participated in two tours [2] [3] .
 Gordon D'Arcy | ||
 | ||
| general information | ||
| Full name | Gordon William D'Arcy | |
| Date of Birth | February 10, 1980 (39 years old) | |
| Place of Birth | Fearns , County Wexford , Republic of Ireland | |
| Citizenship |  Ireland | |
| Provinces | Lenster | |
| Growth | 180 cm | |
| Weight | 91 kg | |
| Position | internal center | |
| Club Information | ||
| Club | completed career | |
| Career | ||
| Club career * | ||
| Lansdowne | ||
| 1998—2015 | Lenster | 260 (339) |
| National team** | ||
| 1997 | Ireland (schoolchildren) | 3 (?) |
| 1998 | Ireland (before 19) | one (?) |
| 1999-2000 | Ireland (under 21) | 7 (?) |
| 1999—2015 | Ireland Wolfhounds | 11 (10) |
| 1999—2015 | Ireland | 82 (35) |
| 2005, 2009 |  British and Irish Lions | ten) |
* The number of games and points for a professional club is considered for the national league, Heineken Cup and Super Rugby. ** The number of games and points for the national team in official matches. | ||
Content
Play career
D'Arcy studied at Klongows Wood College and played for the college rugby team as a fullback. Even on the eve of his graduation from the school he received an offer from the coach of the Irish national team Warren Gatland to go with the Irish national team on a tour in South Africa, but due to the need to study, he declined the invitation [4] . In the school team of Ireland, D'Arcy played in 1998-1999, his colleague in the team was the future castle of the Irish team Paul O'Connell ; at the school championship level, D'Arcy intersected with future teammate and teammate Brian O'Driscoll , who played for Blackrock College in .
After leaving school, D'Arcy became a player in the Lansdowne amateur club and on October 15, 1999 made his debut in the main team of Ireland in the World Cup match in Wales against Romania , having replaced. However, over the next three years he was not called up to the team, as the regional coaches did not consider him to be of the appropriate level. Return to the national team took place on November 17, 2002, when D'Arcy briefly left at the end of the match against Fiji . Three more times in 2003 he came on as a substitute, although he did not make it to the Irish national team application for the World Cup in Australia . He was invited to the Leicester team in connection with the departure of leading club players to the national teams, where D'Arcy became a base player, skillfully playing in the positions of full back and wing, making races from the depths and various feints. Due to the injury of Brian O'Driscoll, also a player of “Leinster”, Gordon played in the position of an external center, where he also made a good impression.
At the 2004 Six Nations Cup, in the absence of O'Driscoll, D'Arcy played at number 13 (in particular, in the game against France ). After O'Driscoll returned to duty, thanks to Gordon’s excellent form, the coaches could afford to experiment with placing both in the center position (including O'Driscoll in the inner center position). According to the results of the tournament, D'Arcy was recognized as the best player in the national team, since for the first time since 1985 his team won the Triple Crown . The experts were impressed by the possibility of D'Arcy thanks to O'Driscoll's passes and false movements to break through the defenses and literally create space for maneuvers from nothing, which was especially evident in the Cup match against England at Twickenham . Thus, the coaches were offered a new combination of centerpieces, in which number 12 was used to break through the defense, and not for quick off-lods in the center of the field. The new combination also featured stiff and smart defense, which allowed to build a counterattack. The tech D'Arcy was nominated for the 2004 IRB Rugby Player of the Year Award.
Contrary to the injury sustained in the 2004/2005 season, D'Arcy was included in the British and Irish Lions application on a 2005 New Zealand tour in however, during the tour he played extremely poorly and eventually refused to go to the last test match against All Blacks , although he later denied this [5] . There were fears that his surge in the 2003/2004 season was just an accident, but already in the 2005/2006 season, D'Arcy joined the attacking game of Lenster. He played in all of Ireland’s matches at the 2006 Six Nations Cup , noting that he was large compared to the other number of other defenders' captures, and demonstrated his talent. In the fall of the same year, he played in a series of matches against Australia and South Africa, in which the Irish won.
In Lenster and the national team of Ireland, D'Arcy usually played in the position of the inner center, and O'Driscoll, respectively, was the outer center. In 2007, again at the Six Nations Cup, Gordon played all the matches and was nominated for the prize of the best player of the tournament, in the same year he went to the World Cup with the Irish national team, where the Irish managed not to leave the group. In 2008, in the opening match against Italy, Gordon received a severe arm fracture, because of which he missed almost the whole year, returning to Leinster only in December. In March 2009, his team won the Six Nations Cup and won the Grand Slam [6] , and in May he was honored to play as part of the Barbarians club against England and Australia, along with teammate Rocky Elsom and teammate Jordan Murphy [7] , In the game with the English, the “barbarians” won 33:26, and D'Arcy made one of three attempts [8] .
On June 3, 2009, D'Arcy was called up to the British and Irish Lions national team for a tour of South Africa since the Lions lost a lot of players injured [9] [10] . He played in November 2009 for Ireland in matches against Fiji and South Africa , and also spent all five games of the Six Nations Cup 2010 . In the 2010 summer test matches, he marked an attempt in a game against New Zealand , but due to a groin injury he did not play against the Australians. November 6, 2010 held the 50th game for the national team, dropped out for the match with South Africa [11] .
In 2011, D'Arcy got into an application for the World Cup in New Zealand [12] and in the match against Australia held his 45th career match with O'Driscoll in a pair at center positions - the record of Will Carling and Jeremy Gaskott was broken [ 13] . The team at that tournament reached the quarter finals.
In 2015, D'Arcy completed his gaming career.
Personal life
D'Arcy regularly does charity work, collaborating with Barretstown and GOAL.ie , as well as coming to Dublin Children's Hospitals. Works with the Brainwave Relief Society for Epilepsy and the Irish Relief Society for Multiple Sclerosis. In 2007/08, he entered Dublin University College . He currently works in the Irish Times newspaper as the author of a sports column, where he publishes opinions on rugby events [14] .
In July 2012, Gordon married the model Aoife Cogan ( Irl. Aoife Cogan ), the wedding took place in Monaghan in the Cathedral of St. Macarthan [15] . They are the owners of Form School, a former Pilates studio in Dublin on Gratten Street [16] . In February 2015, the couple announced that they were expecting a baby, and in May of the same year, their daughter Soleil was born [17] .
D'Arcy was once famous for his beard, which he specially grew, but after the victory of Ireland in the Six Nations Cup 2014, she was personally shaved by Jonathan Sexton - Aoife did not like the image of her husband with a beard [18] .
Notes
- ↑ Hey, D'Arcy (inaccessible link) . The Sunday Tribune (February 15, 2009). Date of treatment March 10, 2009. Archived March 17, 2009.
- ↑ Gordon D'Arcy To Retire After Rugby World Cup . Irish Rugby Union (May 1, 2015). The appeal date is February 17, 2016.
- ↑ Gordon D'Arcy: "No Substitute for Hard Work" . LineoutCoach. The appeal date is February 17, 2016.
- ↑ Walsh, David . The Big Interview: Gordon D'Arcy , London: The Times (February 6, 2005). Date of treatment March 11, 2009.
- ↑ D'Arcy not about to fluff his Lions opportunity this time , Irish Times (June 5, 2009). Date of treatment June 7, 2009.
- ↑ Roberts, Gareth . 2009 Six Nations , BBC Sport (March 22, 2009). Date of treatment March 23, 2009.
- ↑ Barbarians vs England and Australia (Unavailable link) . Date of treatment May 13, 2009. Archived June 7, 2011.
- ↑ England 26–33 Barbarians , BBC Sport (May 30, 2009). Date of treatment June 3, 2009.
- ↑ Lions call up Ireland back D'Arcy , BBC Sport (3 June 2009). Date of treatment June 3, 2009.
- ↑ Gordon D'Arcy Earns Much Deserved Lions Call-Up RugbyBreakdown.co.uk (June 18, 2009). Date of treatment June 27, 2009. Archived June 7, 2009.
- ↑ Reluctant hero still striving to up the ante , The Irish Times (November 3, 2010).
- ↑ Kidney announces RWC squad , TV3 . Archived February 17, 2013.
- ↑ World record for O'Driscoll and D'Arcy . Doha Stadium Plus Qatar (September 30, 2011). Archived on September 27, 2011.
- ↑ Gordon D'Arcy: Informal leaders have huge role to play
- ↑ Shaping up for something new - model Aoife Cogan and husband Gordon D'Arcy open Pilates studio together . Irish Independent (December 4, 2013). Date of treatment January 17, 2014.
- ↑ Aoife Cogan gives Gordon D'Arcy's fuzzy beard her blessing . Irish Independent (December 21, 2013). Date of treatment January 17, 2014.
- ↑ Rugby legend Gordon D'Arcy and model wife Aoife Cogan are expecting their first baby , evoke.ie (1 February 2015). Archived February 3, 2015. The appeal date is February 2, 2015.
- ↑ Gordon D'Arcy's wild beard had to go after Aoife's change of heart