British & Irish Lions team mates Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy will equal a world record against England when they link up at centre for the final round of matches in the 2011 RBS 6 Nations.
England and Lions legends Will Carling and Jeremy Guscott currently hold the world record for the number of appearances together at centre with 45 (44 for England and 1 Test for the Lions), but the Ireland and Leinster pair moved to within one of that mark in the Round 4 defeat against Wales in Cardiff.
Their current tally of 44 appearances together for Ireland include three appearances off the bench by D’Arcy (v France, Italy and South Africa in 2009), but this weekend’s game at the Aviva Stadium will be their 42nd Test start.
There are also two more games in which they both appeared in the Irish matchday 22 (v Fiji in 2002 and v Pacific Islands in 2006), but on those occasions D’Arcy actually replaced O’Driscoll. The game against England will be their 27th start in the Six Nations and their 29th all tolled.
O’Driscoll is the world’s most capped centre with 117 caps for Ireland and the Lions, with only one appearance coming off the bench. That was against Romania in the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
