For years they held the Irish midfield together, as if made of both glue and steel. From the first time they were paired alongside each other in the 2004 Six Nations until the Championship’s finale a decade later, Gordon D’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll started 56 Tests together. As Ian Madigan, now a shrewd pundit, once observed, never mind all the medals and trophies, their greatest achievement was their durability and longevity.
Neither were exactly behemoths, or Mathieu Bastareaud or Sonny Bill Williams in disguise. Hence, their tally together was even more remarkable. They survived, as well as thrived, as much through brilliant footwork and smarts as any physical attributes.
They held the world record for a while, eclipsing the 45-Test total of Will Carling and Jeremy Guscott, before Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith set a landmark of 62 that will probably never be broken. To further put the D’Arcy-O’Driscoll achievement in perspective, in this year’s Rugby Championship Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel became the most-capped centre pairing in South African history when eclipsing the 29 Tests of Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie in unison.
Maybe D’Arcy and O’Driscoll, and Ireland, were lucky too. Since Bundee Aki made his Test debut in the 38-3 win over South Africa in November 2011, Ireland have been blessed to have three outstanding centres: him, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose.
Henshaw started all three Lions’ Tests in 2021, with Aki and himself reviving their old Connacht midfield double act in the Third Test. It still seems a minor disgrace that Ringrose hasn’t been on a Lions tour, though that will surely be rectified this year if he stays fit and healthy.
Scotland have enjoyed possibly their most potent and best-balanced midfield combination of the professional era in recent times with Sione Tuipolotu and Huw Jones. So much so that until the former’s knee injury, which has ruled him out of the Six Nations, there had been increasing suggestions that “Huwipulotu” would bring their Glasgow and Scotland partnership into the Lions Test arena in Australia.
It made you wonder had Messrs Aki, Henshaw and Ringrose suddenly retired?
In any event, Ireland have needed the trio, and more, over the last seven seasons, such has been the almost freakish level of injuries and mishaps that have befallen the Ireland midfield since the comparatively indestructible D’Arcy-O’Driscoll axis.
On the rare occasions when all have been fit, it’s been no wonder that Irish coaches have opted to include one of their stellar midfielders in a slightly ill-fitting number 23 jersey.
Not that this is a luxury Ireland have been able to afford too often because rarely have the trio all been fit and never for the entirety of one World Cup, Six Nations, summer tour or Autumn Series.
Aki made his debut in 2017 alongside Henshaw but, immediately setting the tone, the latter suffered a hamstring tear against the Springboks. Stuart McCloskey and Chris Farrell formed a new partnership for the following week’s scratchy 23-20 win over Fiji before Aki returned alongside Farrell for the win over Argentina.
Will Addison and James Hume would also feature once apiece in the starting Irish midfield, while necessity decreed that Keith Earls occasionally finished games there. Even so, it’s still a little surprising to discover that there have been 12 different midfield combinations since Aki’s debut.
Aki has been the most durable of them all, and hence the most frequently used combination has been him and Ringrose, the pairing that will be deployed again against England on Saturday. They have started 26 Tests together. The next most common has been the Aki-Henshaw axis, which Ireland have employed 21 times. The Henshaw-Ringrose Leinster midfield pairing has only been reprised in green on 12 occasions over the last seven seasons.
Take the example of the 2018 Grand Slam, which was achieved despite rather than because of a settled midfield. Ringrose was ruled out until round four with an ankle injury, Henshaw dislocated his shoulder in the act of scoring his second try in the win over Italy and, after a man-of-the-match display against Wales, Farrell ruptured his ACL in an open training session at the Aviva. So, Aki had three different partners in five games, and the Grand Slam coronation at a frozen Twickenham featured three midfield combinations, with Jordan Larmour and Keith Earls together after even Aki was forced off.
When, finally, all the big three were fit simultaneously at the outset of the Six Nations, Joe Schmidt sought to resolve the issue by pairing Aki and Ringrose, with Henshaw at full-back, in the damaging defeat by England which had a ripple effect for some time to come.
The clean bill of health didn’t last, and so the midfield musical chairs continued.
Henshaw was sidelined at the start of the 2019 World Cup, a head knock ruled Aki out of the defeat by Japan and he was red-carded in the pool finale against Samoa, meaning he was suspended for the quarter-final.
Henshaw and Ringrose exchanged injuries and the 13 jersey alongside Aki in the 2020 Six Nations. Henshaw was in and out of the November 2020 series, which Ringrose missed entirely. The Henshaw-Ringrose combination had a rare run of four games in the 2021 Six Nations before the latter’s ankle injury led to Aki returning and being red-carded in the win over England.
A foot injury delayed Henshaw’s seasonal debut until the 53-7 autumnal finale against a pandemic-weary Argentina.
The following summer, Andy Farell and co went with Henshaw and Ringrose for the first two Tests, with Aki on the bench in Dunedin, whereupon Ringrose suffered concussion.
For the Autumnal opener against South Africa in 2022, Henshaw was withdrawn the day beforehand with a hamstring injury, prompting a recall for McCloskey.
Aki was suspended for the first two games of the 2023 Autumn Series, and Henshaw was picked to partner Ringrose against South Africa but withdrew the day beforehand due to a foot injury. Back came McCloskey alongside Ringrose in a 19-16 win before Henshaw was chosen alongside him against Fiji with Ringrose taking his turn on the bench. But Henshaw’s foot injury recurred within five minutes of the kick-off.
In any other era McCloskey would probably have reached 50 caps rather than 20. With Henshaw sidelined by a foot injury at the outset of the 2023 Grand Slam, Aki was named ahead of McCloskey for the third-round game in Rome, but Ringrose was a late withdrawal due to a calf injury, so McCloskey was restored for his sixth successive start and Aki shifted to 13 for the first time in his Irish career.
It was most probably the last time too. Although Aki played at outside centre for more than half his games in his first four seasons with Connacht, he struggled in adapting to the more demanding defensive role of outside centre.
But he revelled in the additional attacking space, scoring one of Ireland’s five tries and making another in a loose 34-20 win. It certainly would have been a duller game without Aki at 13.
Another hamstring issue further delayed Henshaw’s World Cup start in 2023 and ultimately restricted him to two appearances off the bench as Aki and Ringrose started all five games.
But Ringrose’s shoulder injury led to Aki and Henshaw starting four of last season’s Six Nations games.
When all three were fit for the Argentina game last November, Aki was left out, but this week he’s picked ahead of Henshaw, who’s on the bench.
“Why have we gone with Bundee at 12?” repeated Simon Easterby rhetorically when asked on Thursday. “He has had some big games for Ireland in big games, if that makes sense. He is the type of guy that other players look to and he responds to that pressure, the responsibility of playing well in big games.
“He is in a really competitive position and Robbie has been playing really well for Leinster there, whether at 12 or 13, and obviously Garry as well, whether he is playing at 13 or on the wing. We felt that that physicality that Bundee can bring ... he is dynamic and he has had big games for Ireland in the last couple of seasons.
“He, along with Garry and Robbie, will all have a big part to play for Ireland through this Six Nations. Having Bundee and Garry and Robbie, along with others, will be really important to our successes in the next few weeks.”
As the last eight seasons have shown, ne’er a truer word.
So what do we deduce from all these comings and goings? That continuity of selection has rarely been possible but when there has actually been a choice, it’s tended to be for Aki-Ringrose, the pairing that will start on Saturday.
And one other thing. How on earth did D’Arcy and O’Driscoll do it?
Central stations
Irish midfield partnerships in their 83 Tests since Bundee Aki’s debut v South Africa in November 2017.
Aki and Ringrose: 26 times.
Aki and Henshaw: 21 times.
Henshaw and Ringrose: 12 times.
Aki and Farrell: 6 times.
McCloskey and Ringrose: 5 times.
McCloskey and Henshaw: 4 times.
McCloskey and Farrell: 3 times.
Farrell and Ringrose: 2 times.
Aki/Addison, Henshaw/Farell, McCloskey/Hume, McCloskey/Aki: 1 time each.
