Rugby World Cup:RONAN O'GARA caused a bit of stir with his emotional post-match suggestion that these may be his last few weeks with Ireland, and thus Ireland and Munster's record points scorer was duly put up in front of the media in the squad's hotel yesterday to clarify his position.
Admitting that it was a great occasion and a proud night for him, O’Gara added: “I said I’d be done with Ireland in a few weeks and I think there are different interpretations to that. I think from my point of view when you set goals as a professional rugby player I think everything ended at, hopefully, the World Cup final and that’s exactly where I stand at the minute today.
“And I suppose it’s important for me to put an end because it’s a distraction that the team don’t need. In my own head I’ll reassess at the end of the World Cup but I think it’s hugely important that I’m going to be part of a team, and it’s a great team at the moment, and that’s where I was coming from. Because hopefully in six or seven weeks’ time it’s over and I think that’s where I am.”
So, all clear then? Decoded, what it probably means is that there will be no more references to any putative retirement plans before the World Cup is over. “It will take two outhalves to win a World Cup,” he later added.
He will then think about his future and, as he is still under an IRFU international contract until the end of the next season (2012-13), one imagines he’ll carry on. He’s certainly as fit looking, and playing as well as ever, indeed better than four years ago.
As O’Gara also noted yesterday, Ireland are at their best when their emotions are pitched high, if controlled. The sight of Jerry Flannery handing out the jerseys on Friday touched a chord in reminding the rest of the squad how fortuitous they were, a point re-affirmed by Seán O’Brien yesterday. “I suppose I was just thinking of home and family and that, and what it means to put on a green jersey. I suppose the whole thing with Jerry (Flannery) as well. You could be going home in a couple of hours, so you have to make the most of the opportunities. I suppose it just hit us all again that evening, how lucky we are to be where we are.”
But as O’Gara also informed us, in asking them all to the bottom of the well last week, Paul O’Connell admitted they can’t do that every week. “Otherwise you would just be drained,” said O’Gara.
So, playing England in a Six Nations finale at home, or Australia in the World Cup, is one thing, Russia in Rotorua quite another, and that is where Ireland have had problems. Given that replicating that level of emotion last Saturday is nigh on impossible, how do they replace it?
“It’s up to every individual to take on their responsibility this week,” said O’Brien, “and try to find that thing that will bring it out of you. It’s another international game and it’s another opportunity for players to stake a claim.”
Besides which, Saturday’s win has done wonders for morale and confidence, has generated momentum and, as Tommy Bowe revealed, made for an even happier Irish camp.
Perceived wisdom had it that O’Brien’s least effective role in a backrow was at number seven. Indeed, his own view kind of tallied with that. But that shirt number rarely stopped Munster and Ireland getting the ball into David Wallace’s hands, and so it proved with O’Brien last Saturday.
“It was up to me to work hard around the field, and if the opportunity came to carry, then carry, and that’s what happened,” said O’Brien. “We are all working and the game was flowing and I got my hands on the ball, so I was happy with my contribution in carrying and all the other stuff.”
Neither O’Brien, Ferris nor Jamie Heaslip are out-and-out groundhog or breakdown specialists, with the latter, at number eight, arguably the best of them at manoeuvring his body over tackled ball carriers to win turnovers or penalties.
This trio remains a potent mix, but with David Pocock being ruled out of last Saturday’s game, the jury will probably remain out until they run into a Pocock-type player such as, potentially, the brilliant young Welsh openside and captain, Sam Warburton.
Whenever that comes to pass, Ireland could do worse than demonise Warburton or whomever as they did Pocock until his late withdrawal, but for the time being the Irish players believe they would have reproduced their new-found level of accurate clearing out at Eden Park. “The job was the exact same,” said O’Brien. “It didn’t matter who they had there. We had to get on with it.”
O’Brien and the rest of the Irish squad watched Russia’s 53-17 defeat to Italy on Tuesday night, and were particularly impressed by their nippy, livewire replacement scrumhalf Alexander Yanyushkin, who scored their first ever World Cup try, and their number eight Victor Gresev, who was the official man of the match. “He’s a good player, yeah. He’s good feet, he’s strong, he’s kind of the heartbeat of their team. Wherever he is that’s where they kinda go to. Yeah, he’s a good player, I was very impressed with him.
“They can score tries when they play the wide-wide game and when they keep the ball,” added O’Brien. “They lost a lot of ball in contact against Italy but I’d say they’ll tidy that up for our game. But they’re certainly dangerous and we’ll have to give them a bit of respect, and be awake on the night.”
Talk of Ireland running up a big score is a bit premature for O’Brien’s liking, although a large, bonus-point win could conceivably give them the luxury of being able to lose by seven points or less in the final pool game against Italy on Sunday week and still progress to the knockout stages. “I wouldn’t say it’s a thought that would go into my head, personally, to win by a big margin. We want to win the game and we want to play well, and if that means winning by a big margin so be it. But we’re not going out to score 20 tries against them or anything like that. We want to do our own jobs right and see what happens from there.”
