Foothills scaled, O'Gara targets peaks

Second season syndrome. With so many rookies having sparked last season's Irish rejuvenation, it's a valid concern. But if this was on your mind as you went to this season's first interprovincial between Ulster and Munster's tyros, Ronan O'Gara allayed it well, in one match. Talk about hitting the ground running.

That opener set the tone. It's a jungle out there for an outhalf this season, more so even than last. Most often you face a line of maybe 10 players, with a full back sweeping up behind them. Sometimes there isn't an awful lot on, especially if, as in the Ulster match, Andy Ward and another back-row player are stiffening the midfield off your team's lineout catches.

Quickly dispelling notions of a hangover from last season, however, O'Gara landed five penalties from five against Ulster; he was masterful in his tactical kicking to manoeuvre Munster into field position, and then steered them home with a couple of drop goals. Composed off and on the pitch, this fella disproves the theory that you can't put an old head on young shoulders.

Yet the concern remains. Not just because the second-season internationals might suffer a mental reaction, but because the opposition studying their games now have more evidence to go on.

"You're definitely a lot more analysed," agrees O'Gara. "Last year they didn't know who O'Gara and (Peter) Stringer were, two whippersnappers, but now I think we've earned the respect of an awful lot more teams and a lot of their analysis is definitely targeting nine and 10."

"It's something that both of us are learning about and trying to get him (Stringer) to take the pressure off me by kicking and just making it easier for me to get into a game rather than the back row being pinned at me. The European Cup has been tougher this year but talking to Declan (Kidney, the Munster coach), he's been saying I've been playing better than last year. Coming from someone like him, it's quite good to hear."

When he looks back on last season, you'd like to think O'Gara doesn't start where it ended, with that fateful kick in the European final against Northampton which was blown away. Thankfully he doesn't.

"I'd be doing well to surpass last season, both individually and collectively. A championship record in my first cap against Italy, winning that semi-final in Bordeaux with Munster and scoring a try. And then in the final things just didn't work for us. I think we were beaten by a good Northampton side, but having said that we could have won it."

A pause. "I've seen the kick a few times now and Axel (Anthony Foley) won't let me forget it," he says, laughing. "Every day of the week nearly it's mentioned. We've watched it a few times in team meetings with Munster. There'd be a sense of giddiness in the room and then everyone sees it, it'd bring a tear to the eye today even.

"I've no problem living with that, it was a hard kick. On the day I didn't get it, on another day I might have. But sure that's sport. I'll probably find myself in situations like that again, please God, in the next seven years or so." Kidney, the master motivator, has issued a few pearls of wisdom which helped O'Gara and co bridge last season and this. "In the words of Deccie, `winners fall and they get straight back up, losers fall and they stay down'. So that's the attitude I would take. You look at somebody like Woodie (Keith Wood). He's had one or two upsets and people bitched about him once or twice, and he's probably the best rugby player in the world. You're going to have bad days, but the positives completely outweigh the negatives for me."

Having hit the ground running, O'Gara's good form continued through the interpros and into Europe. Away to Castres, it was O'Gara's try, run in from half-way, which closed out another famous Munster comeback. Buoyed by that "against Bath at home I think I went up a level, I showed what I was capable of doing and it was a good all-round game," he says.

The nadir, admittedly, was next time out, away to Bath. By his own admission: "I probably didn't appreciate how difficult it was going to be second time around". He adds: "I let myself down and that's something I've got to make up for." Whoaa Ronan. He's being a bit harsh on himself here.

Despite the O'Gara kicking radar going a little askew, much of his general play and running game remained good. And that's the really impressive thing about O'Gara. He has his lapses in concentration with some of his basics, but his game never seems to crumble when one aspect lets him down. "My dad was quite good in that regard. He might give me one or two pointers on a piece of paper. He's a very supportive parent, without talking rubbish, and he's a very shrewd reader of the game. He might say something like `the three Ps - possession, position, points. Get your concentration right, and when things go against you trust your natural instincts because they're usually right'.

"So basically I go out there and just try to switch into autopilot and think a few moves ahead of where the ball is."

With his natural ability and competitive edge, O'Gara was always destined for this life. "I never liked losing. I always wanted to be one of the first to be picked and I've just been lucky, I've always been good at sport."

Portents were plentiful. There was the now famous European under-12 tournament win in France with fellow Cork Constitution kids, Peter Stringer included, when he landed a touchline penalty in the final. Willie Anderson famously observed of the 15-year-old O'Gara at a summer training camp: "If this fella doesn't make it, there's something wrong with the system."

Kidney was always hopeful that O'Gara would be amongst the cream of the crop in Presentation, Cork, a feeling reinforced when he landed a touchline penalty, as captain, to clinch a Munster Schools' Junior Cup final. Comparisons are odious, especially when flogged to death regarding O'Gara and David Humphreys. Suffice to say, they're both exceptionally talented players and that O'Gara should be given the nod is a compliment to his form this season, since Humphreys has been at his best too. That O'Gara has been selected is probably down to him saving Ireland's bacon last time out in Canada, and that he continues to display that even-keeled decision making and vision in the maelstrom of the action.

Of course he's not the finished article yet, but then again, he is only 23. Everything should be done to keep players like this happy and content in Irish rugby, and by rights, O'Gara's IRFU contract should be cast in stone for life, or at least until the 2003 World Cup. Adding more speed to his much-improved defence of the last year, but most of all just by acquiring more and more experience of games at the top level, realistically O'Gara's best rugby is still a few years away yet. "Saturday's my eighth cap. Things are moving along nicely. I'm setting myself targets all the time. I don't ever question my own ability. When I hit the international stage it was more a case of being a little bit nervous and worrying about the outcome than your own natural ability and outperforming other fellas," he says matter-of-factly, not arrogantly.

A cheery, bright, likeably cocky lad, he has a masters degree in business economics but he knows he has arrived at the right time. He was cut out for this professional rugby life. When he says his primary aim is to enjoy his rugby, and he is determined to see how that can be achieved, you can sense the influence of Kidney.

"That comes about by, hopefully, playing with a winning Irish side. It would be nice if we could get a same roll as last year, if not better. I think there's an awful lot left yet for Munster to achieve this season. There's a break now, but I think once we go back there'll be a huge hunger there. Basically, to just go out and have a go, and not have any excuses when the final whistle goes in any match. I have a good life, I enjoy my rugby, I've good family and friends and I think if you've a happy and healthy mind everything will contribute towards playing rugby well."