Player Focus: We Catch Up With Adam D'Arcy

The 25 year old Australian joined Ulster on a one year contract in September, having initially arrived in Belfast on a two week trial. He was little known in Ulster before he moved to the province last summer but he has developed into an integral member of the Ulster squad. To date he has amassed 15 caps for Ulster and fans have now become familiar with the sight of him attacking the line from deep.

D'Arcy took up rugby at the age of 9 and spent most of his early career as an outhalf, before switching to fullback when he was 19. He was playing club rugby for Manly in Sydney but was considering his options of playing overseas after he gained an Irish passport. Ulster were on the lookout for an Irish qualified player and D'Arcy, whose grandfather hailed from Tipperary, was invited for a 2 week trial in the summer. His performances in pre-season underlined his ability and the coaching staff wasted no time in rewarding him with a one year contract.

It understandably took D'Arcy some time to settle in Belfast after the rollercoaster start to his Ulster career. "I came in at such short notice at a time when the team had finished pre-season. I went straight into the trial matches so it took me a bit of time to get to know everyone and find my feet."

When he arrived at Ulster his initial goal was to earn a permanent contract but after that was achieved, his goals had to be quickly re-evaluated. After being in and out of the team for the first month of the season, D'Arcy's next aim was to impress the coaching staff further, cement his place in the starting XV and make a positive contribution to Ulster Rugby. To that end, he is always looking for improvement in his game. "Over here you've got to adapt to the weather conditions you're playing in. In every other game you get rain and wind so your kicking and passing has to be very good and that's something I can keep working on."

D'Arcy has already had many great moments in his short Ulster career to date, but he picks out one in particular: "The game that really stays in the mind is the Biarritz game at home when Humph (Ian Humphreys) kicked the goal to win it at the end. It was such a tough game in tough conditions. There was a sense of jubilation and relief and even though we had to win the next week to get to the Quarter Finals (Heineken Cup) it was the best moment."

Indeed, the moment was made all the sweeter by the crowd at Ravenhill. "It was a big crowd, it's the most vocal I've heard the crowd this year. I've had the chance to play in Wales and France but you never get an atmosphere like Ravenhill. It's not the biggest stadium but you'd think the crowd is far bigger than is actually is because of the noise they make. It's second to none."

D'Arcy's positive outlook on life is contagious within the squad and has no doubt benefited the squad in what has been a successful season to date. He also brings that enthusiasm to his performances on the pitch, where he will be hoping to enhance his reputation further…