Irish up for Banahan bash

10 April 2012

Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll believes his partnership with Gordon D'Arcy is key to thwarting 6ft 7ins England powerhouse Matt Banahan in Dublin tomorrow.

While the new Aviva Stadium is all about creating a fresh image for Irish rugby, the team will look to their world-famous centre pairing of Leinster heroes O'Driscoll and D'Arcy to stifle England, who have brought Banahan in for the injured Mike Tindall.

O'Driscoll is a big fan of his team-mate, who said: "Centres have to share the workload, that's the beauty of playing with Gordon who is probably in the top two or three centre defenders in the world. Banahan is obviously a different style of player to Tindall.

"He has played some games at 13 for his club, not a huge amount at international. He is a big man and takes a lot of stopping but myself and Gordon have played against big centres and managed to deal with them."

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