Eddie O'Sullivan believes Gordon D'Arcy's Six Nations campaign is over, but expects the centre to make it into the World Cup squad.
The ex-Ireland head coach was reacting to Joe Schmidt's decision to leave the experienced No12 out of his 36-man panel.
"I think his Six Nations is probably over, bar an injury or two. I think for D'Arcy, he'll be certainly try and look to get into the World Cup squad and I think he will. I'd be surprised if he doesn't. I see him featuring in the Rugby World Cup and that might be a good stepping off point for him," O'Sullivan told Off The Ball tonight.
Trevor Hogan was also on the show and does not think D'Arcy should be written off completely and sees Schmidt's decision as a practical one.
"If he produces again, he'll be back in the mix. That's the way Joe works," said Trevor.
The lads looked ahead to Ireland's trip to Wales and their chances of success against Warren Gatland's side in Cardiff.
Meanwhile, a Welsh side defeated Connacht on Friday night, but the officiating against Cardiff Blues in the Pro 12 certainly irked head coach Pat Lam, with his post-match comments landing him with a misconduct charge.
"I can understand his frustration," said Eddie, who described the assistant official's call as an "unusual" one.
"Having said that, I think Pat Lam is in seriously hot water here for the way he's dealt with this. I know it's refreshing but if you look over recent history, they've really hammered coaches for criticising referees. It's a no-go area."
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