AFTER-MATCH REACTION RONAN O'GARA:HE'S DONE it more times than he can possibly remember himself, indeed so many times now he can probably do it in his sleep.
While there’s every chance Jonny Sexton could have nailed the 78th-minute drop goal which steered Ireland to victory from the jaws of a potentially crippling defeat, the value of having proven, match-winning experience with ice in his veins on the bench is invaluable. Things have never come particularly easy for Ronan O’Gara and the emergence of Sexton has given the Munster man a new challenge.
He would have railed against it for as long as he’s around, O’Gara was never going to go quietly into the night but in everything he did at the Stadio Flaminio on Saturday, the Munster man conducted himself with utter class.
His generosity of spirit towards his team-mates, and particularly Sexton, was palpable as he relived another of his endgame drop-goal routines. “I was very fresh coming on to the pitch, and we were leading when Jonny came off don’t forget that,” he said thoughtfully and with a wry smile.
“Then they scored so it was looking like Georgia all over again, and I was thinking, ‘No, don’t do this’.
“I asked who would win the restart, because there were a few lads blowing, and there were about six or seven voices that popped up, and it’s always encouraging to hear. I just said I need more than one fella going for it.
“I kicked it and it was probably a small bit too far but there was great intensity in the chase and there was good hang-time, so maybe we got a hand to force the knock-on and then we had the scrum, and then we called the play, which was central to Brian (O’Driscoll). I didn’t expect to get the ball back off him, but I think it worked well. We caught them on the edge; it was front foot, there were a few good carries and I think Drico was involved in punching it up. Then we just worked it to the centre and I had plenty of time.
“I just felt very relaxed and it sums up my mood at the minute. I’ve been really excited and confident the last two weeks in camp, which is unlike me I think,” he acknowledged, with another wry, self-deprecating chuckle.
“It was great. At that stage you go on autopilot and you don’t think too much. You just do your job and kick it over the bar.”
None of us are ever too old to learn about ourselves and at 34 O’Gara seemed to have become a little more mature about the challenge presented by Sexton, or perhaps become more at ease with himself while also retaining that remarkable drive of his.
Throw in 300 games for province and country, along with three Lions tours, and there’s not much he hasn’t been through on the pitch as well.
“As a young fella you don’t understand that and I’ve been through that. And then you get to my position, and I’ve been lucky to steer the Irish ship for 10 years and the Munster ship. Then someone like Jonny comes in and he’s really good, but I think sometimes the ship hits choppy waters and that’s when you bring someone in. Jonny was playing well today, but it was good that I got backed to come on and try to win the game.
“That’s important, to have two fellas fighting it out, and we can offer a lot going forward in that regard. It is experience, and it was just important that when the gun was put to our head we found another gear. With four minutes to go, even if (Mirco) Bergamasco had kicked the conversion, I’d like to think there was a try in us.”
O’Gara also made the telling observation that the Azzurri might have been better advised employing the big left boot of fullback Luke McLean for their subsequently drop-goal routine, while from his watching brief for over an hour he pointed to the handling errors which effectively equated to “20 minutes less pressure on them (Italy)”.
While this wasn’t as bad a performance as the near disaster against Georgia in the World Cup, “It would have been an almighty kick in the balls for us if we had lost today. Let’s call a spade a spade, so it was important that we got out of that hole.
“At times there was great intensity, and there were nearly some cracking tries scored, but at this level nearly isn’t good enough. They are always really tough first game out. They are proud, and they are probably disappointed they didn’t get a win. We maybe forced it a small bit. I know we’re building a game plan, but there were times you felt we probably could have played a bit more territory.
“That was probably the one thing (we) emphasised at half-time,” he said, whose game management has nearly always been a primary virtue, and he effectively concurred with the feeling that Ireland were a little one-dimensional. “That doesn’t mean it has to be a 10 kicking: it can be run-kick options, and I think in the second half Jonny put in some lovely kicks. That rewards forwards, and I think you have to find a balance between getting the most out of your forwards and your outer backs. It can’t be all going one way.”
