OF THE clouds which hang over the international careers of Jerry Flannery and Ronan O’Gara, the ones above Flannery are more real and outside of his control. Both Munstermen are emotional characters, and handing out the jerseys at Friday’s captain’s meeting was both a brave and trying thing for Flannery to do before starting his long journey home on Sunday.

As Flannery came to terms with the fourth calf tear over the last troubled 18 months of his career – having seemingly overcome the problem – to compound his acute disappointment at having his World Cup cut short, he must be concerned about the remainder of his career. Nonetheless, the prognosis is for a four- to six-week recovery from this latest heartbreak, and he has returned to Munster to begin his latest rehabilitation with his province’s medical and fitness teams.

For O’Gara it had been a trying week. He has been in good nick physically this season, has played well when called upon, and was reputedly very unhappy at not making the starting line-up for the Australian game.

The all-time record points scorer for Munster (2,239) and Ireland (1,039), the 34-year-old O’Gara is the oldest player in the squad and he was desperately keen to make an indelible imprint on his third and last World Cup.

A bright, articulate and willing talker when in the mood, he is often at his most candid and animated in the immediate aftermath of a game. In the fall-out of last Saturday’s win O’Gara spoke of missing his wife Jessica and their three young kids – twins Rory and Molly turn three during the World Cup, and one-year-old JJ – and of this being his last few weeks with Ireland.

However, O’Gara’s current international contract with the IRFU runs until the end of the 2112-13 season, and suggestions of his imminent retirement were news to all of the Irish management and asked if O’Gara’s comments were in the emotional aftermath backs coach Alan Gaffney said: “I sincerely hope so. I love Rog and I have for many, many years,” he added, “and I think what he brings to the party and what he brings to the table is something special.

“It’s a great contest between him and Jonny (Sexton) at the present time, and it’s not laid down in stone who’s going to start. Every time Ronan has gone out in recent times and played, he’s performed; whether he’s started or come off the bench. And I think the fact he and Jonny have worked extremely well together, they’ve got an enormous amount of respect for each other, I’d hate to see Rog retire from international rugby because I think he’s got a lot to offer.”

O’Gara seems sure to start this Sunday against Russia, besides which the second sighting of him and Jonny Sexton playing out an endgame together as a 10/12 axis last Saturday also offers the prospect of both being accommodated.

“Well, although Sexto doesn’t want to hear it every time I talk to him about it, I think Sexto has got all the attributes for a good 12,” said Gaffney.

“He’s an excellent defender, there’s no doubt about that. He’s one of the better defenders in the team; he’s very, very good at it. He prefers to play 10 and he’s a world-class 10, but they’re both world-class players and trying to get them both into the team is a difficult challenge.

“But then again Darce (Gordon D’Arcy) has just needed more time and the more time Darce plays, as we all know, he gets better with time. He only had the one game in August and the game against the States; a pity he came off on Saturday but I think moving Jonny to 12 and Rog to 10 definitely didn’t hurt.”

It’s also pretty clear from the comments emanating from the camp that, partly inspired by the words of Paul O’Connell at last Friday’s captain’s run, the squad are adhering to Declan Kidney’s dictum in drawing on their Heineken Cup experience, but without any sense of provincial boundaries.

“Paulie was talking before the game about going to the well and drawing it out of us; I think that’s what we did,” said Mike Ross. “We really worked hard for each other and that showed. We’ve been together for a while now and it’s really, really turning into a team. You really feel like there is no Munster, no Leinster, no Ulster, no Connacht: it’s just Ireland at this stage. It’s very pleasing to finally have it click the way we knew it could.”

As ever with this team, as with the English game, it required the sight of a big gun to concentrate minds collectively. As Eoin Reddan conceded: “We probably needed a big team to play against and a big game to play to sow that seed; the belief is always there but I just think it helps a little bit in terms of going forward and what we can achieve.”

They all seem acutely aware they cannot afford to let this be another one-off. “You can be sure Italy are thinking about the scrum now and it gets harder every time,” said Reddan. “We won’t be able to rely on the scrum for every game, but I think we do have a lot of other stuff in the locker.

“We’ve got to push on and keep improving. You’re either getting better or worse – that sounds clichéd but it’s true. We’ll get back on to the pitch and push on. It’s a great place to be pushing on from: we have two wins now, two more games to come so we’ll see where we end up.”

Samoan player accuses IRB OF 'unfair treatment'

ELIOTA FUIMAONO-SAPOLU could face disciplinary action after accusing the International Rugby Board of "unfair treatment" towards Samoa.

The Gloucester centre posted a string of messages on Twitter, criticising the World Cup fixture scheduling after Samoa were given just three days off before their game against Wales.

Fuimaono-Sapolu accused the IRB of exploitation and compared Samoa's treatment to slavery, the holocaust and apartheid.

The fixture schedule is more onerous on the Tier Two nations because World Cup organisers want to timetable the leading countries in prime-time slots to maximise commercial revenue.

Sixty per cent of the IRB's World Cup revenue comes from broadcast contracts and that money is then reinvested in the game, to set up high-performance centres in countries like Samoa and Argentina.

It is understood the only way the IRB can solve the current fixture issue would be to reduce the tournament to 16 teams, which would undermine the very point of trying to grow the game.

Samoa coach Titimaea Tafua insisted after the game with Wales his side's short turnaround was "not an excuse" for their 17-10 defeat, but Fuimaono-Sapolu was enraged. He wrote: "IRB, Stop exploiting my people. Please, all we ask, is fairness. If they get a week, give us a week. Simple. #equity #justice." He later added: "Ok, it's obvious the IRB are unjust. Wales get 7 days, we get 3. Unfair treatment, like slavery, like the holocaust, like apartheid. F*** U.

"Give Wales 3 days off, and give Samoa a week!! We would kill them!!!"