Aspects of defensive duties must be tackled

RUGBY/Ronan O'Gara's Diary: Eddie's (O'Sullivan) been getting a bit of a slagging for his expressions. When we went through a video of a training clip that was poorly executed, he said: "I have three words to describe this: Un-ac-ceptable."

He's been full of his sayings, "piss and vinegar" and so on, and they've been a big hit with all the non-Irish players. His speeches have been very serious, and it's funny hearing their reactions, because we generally wouldn't dare laugh.

The preparation has been intense but enjoyable, and of course we had Manchester United in the Vale of Glamorgan with us from Wednesday to Saturday (before the FA Cup final against Arsenal). Mal(colm O'Kelly) seemed to get on the best with them. One day I was walking by and Mal was having coffee with Ruud van Nistelrooy.

I met Roy (Keane) on the Thursday and he was well chilled out. I had a chat with him, but then Eddie came over and I suppose you could say the conversation became a bit more tactical.

I was amazed how slight they were. Ryan Giggs just seemed to be skin and bone.

We all went to the final in the Millennium Stadium. Some of the boys were a bit p***ed off their seats were a "little" bit out from the halfway line. It was excellent.

It's different from four years ago. Then, it would be fair to say, I was a bit awestruck. I didn't know Jonny (Wilkinson) or Neil Jenkins when I first joined that squad. They were legends of the game. But four years on you have more familiarity with the leading players from playing them regularly. There's no one up there on a pedestal.

I feel more comfortable with the level of practice and playing, and everything is pre-planned and runs smoothly. It was just a question of getting to know the lads, and that didn't take very long.

The first few nights in New Zealand were hard. I was struggling by 8pm for the first few nights. Clive (Woodward) had told me on the Friday, heading out on the flight from Sydney to Auckland, I would be starting against the Bay of Plenty. Getting first crack at it, and knowing this a week in advance, was great, and a chance to make the most of it.

We've been working with separate coaching teams and the preparation has been excellent. Everybody knows where they stand and we have the same calls. It'll probably take a game or two before everything is finalised, but fellas are playing from the same structure from game to game.

Looking back on the video of the first 15 minutes, it was the best bit of rugby I've seen. It was errorless, through five or six phases and just ripped them apart. Three unbelievably good tries. Then the Bay, they got a sniff of it and tore into us, and it became a difficult game. They got their blood up, started knocking lumps out of us - we were blown away for the next 20 minutes.

The second half was really good because we imposed our game back on them. They didn't get into our 22 once. We got our tactics right, we played more territory, which in the first half wasn't really on because we didn't see the ball for 20 minutes.

I was working in defence with Martyn Williams, Gavin Henson and Brian (O'Driscoll), and they came through us there too often. We weren't familiar with each other and we didn't trust each other enough, so that was frustrating, and I personally missed three tackles in the first half. I didn't miss any in the second half, but what do you put that down to?

My performance mirrored the team's I suppose. I was disappointed for the first try when I was fended off. That was my fault, and I came out of the line once, and one of their runners came through once. Three misses. Costly and very disappointing. I put my hand up there.

In the second half I had six tackles and didn't miss them. It's a mental thing as much as anything, and there were a few others who missed tackles as well.

Another negative for me was the goalkicking. I missed three conversions from the touchline and one I really should have kicked when I was too casual; the conversion for (Dwayne) Peely's try. That was unacceptable.

The attacking game was outstanding, I took it flat and hard, and my tactical kicking was good, so those pluses were really good. But if I hadn't missed tackles, I would have had a really good game, so it's mixed, and the main thing is my defence in the first half simply has to improve.

We all have to get our turn, and hopefully I'll get another chance on Saturday week against Otago in Dunedin. That's the way it is with four outhalves, and that means you've just got to step up to the plate when you get your chance.

You feel for the fellas whose tours are over. It's odd how injuries frequently happen to fellas when they're on top of their game, and that's how it was for Mal. He was in great form and I think he wanted to prove some people wrong after what happened four years ago. Mal's a great tourist as well, a good man to have around the camp. He'll be a big loss.

Mal has a good balance to his life and he's getting married this summer, and that's the silver lining in his cloud, but Mal is down, and you don't see Mal down very often. What can you say to him? And Mal realises that too. He makes it easy for fellas to approach him. His injury is a bit vague and he's a few important months of rehab ahead of him.

The same is true of Lawrence (Dallaglio), because he was in such great shape. Lawrence is a massive character. He has a massive presence and is a real leader. He's a bit like Mick Galwey in Munster. Fellas would give that extra 10 per cent just to please Lawrence, so in that regard he's irreplaceable, but you've got to move on.