Ireland v South Africa: At last he's the man. It seems strange to be talking of a 27-year-old with over 427 Test points to his name as finally having cracked this Test Mullarkey, but today Ronan O'Gara makes his 10th start in succession for Ireland. And by some distance it's his longest stint in the jersey.

Before last season's Six Nations opener against France, the choice between O'Gara and David Humphreys was a much debated, tight call, but despite Ireland losing in Paris, O'Gara held on to his place, rarely looked back and delivered his most complete performance in an Irish shirt in the win over England at Twickenham en route to the Triple Crown.

Although Humphreys, in tandem with Guy Easterby, galvanised a weary looking Irish team in the second Test in Cape Town last June, this time round there was scarcely a murmur about what was once the great outhalf debate. Provincial form, even more than before, put paid to any argument.

Not that O'Gara is finally inclined to feeling he has ownership of the number 10 jersey, least of all with Humphreys around, and he toes the team line with such conviction that, well, you believe him.

"I will never have that mindset. I don't like having that mindset. I think competition - be it between myself and Humphs or whoever, be it starting or coming on - I think both of us have done well and the team has benefited, and that's ultimately what it's all about. I see fellas who probably put themselves first but being a team player is more important to me."

You can't mention one without mention of the other and, as it happened, we were scarcely a few minutes into the interview when O'Gara himself brought up the name of his long-standing rival. The two names are synonymous with each other, ever since O'Gara burst on to the Test scene in that rejuvenating win over the Scots. But, setting the scene for the ensuing five seasons, even then Humphreys was sprung from the bench to provide a virtuoso performance.

Though you sense they're probably not kindred spirits, they've remained very pally, and they've had to, when you think of the countless days and nights in various camps together, and not least the many hours staying on for kicking practice after the coach driver had taken everyone else back to the team hotel.

O'Gara still good-naturedly chides this writer about being "a Humphs man", but if the truth be told their rivalry has been mutually beneficial, much as Malcolm O'Kelly's revival in the last year can be attributed in part to the emergence of Donncha O'Callaghan, as he himself accepts.

"Absolutely. I've maintained that argument for a long time, and you're getting that in a lot more positions around the park. It's human nature that if a fella is up your ass you have to prove yourself. Before, maybe I was worried about it but I think I've got to the stage where I'm comfortable with it and mentally I'm satisfied with it."

With this extended run in the team, it's not so much the greater familiarity with Test rugby that has given him satisfaction, more the levels of consistency.

"Whereas before I can think over the years of going through periods of making mistakes, hopefully those mistakes are limited to maybe one or two a game. That's the standard I've got to set for myself."

The mental strength O'Gara has shown to come through a valley period in a match, or overcome a mistake or two, has always been one of the most striking features of his game. He hangs tough. "I've always maintained it's something inherent, the way you're brought up or something. I've always been fiercely competitive. I hated losing anything when I was growing up and it probably stood to me."

There have been many examples in a Munster shirt, and the most obvious when playing for Ireland in Twickenham last season. With his first kick, the teams scoreless, and Ireland making the early running, he missed what for him was the proverbial sitter.

"You're running back and you just can't believe it. But then to have 75 minutes as you actually hoped for in your mental approach to the game, that gives you huge satisfaction, because there isn't a higher level than that away from home against the world champions. Even with Munster, you can do what you like at Thomond Park, but the measure of a person is what you do away from home."

In this demanding outlook, O'Gara judges himself much like Paul O'Connell does, and one suspects, Brian O'Driscoll and others too. In describing the competitive instinct between himself and O'Connell, be it on the training ground or any other sporting contest, O'Gara smiles and says: "It's not nice." During their 10-week pre-season, it would manifest itself in tip rugby or fitness competitions.

In other sports, O'Gara maintains "I'd hammer him in everything." Table tennis? "He's Division C in that." Golf? Reluctantly, O'Gara concedes, "He's a good golfer all right." Swimming? Now he's getting a bit irked. "But I'd whip him in soccer. He's just a hatchet man."

O'Gara won't be the most obvious beneficiary of the extended pre-season. He says he put on about three kilograms during the summer, but reckons most of that would have dropped off already with the decrease in weights sessions. But he maintains he's noticeably fitter from running programmes, and has worked hard on his speed work and "evasion skills". He feels he's nicely primed.

A turning point was his last-ditch drop goal to pinch a deserved win for Munster away to Glasgow in his second game back. Such win-or-bust late deeds are hardly new to him. The late conversions to earn one-point wins over Saracens, the late penalty to earn a draw with Canada, the conversion to complete the "Miracle Match" over Gloucester, his late round-the-corner pass for Austin Healey's match-winning try for the Lions against the ACT Brumbies, the drop goal at the death in the Millennium Stadium to set up the Grand Slam decider against England.

It goes with the territory of being outhalf and place-kicker, but it's a territory he's comfortable with. So, if he has a streak of cockiness in him, all the better. "That's over a five-year span and you're going to have those moments once or twice a year," he says. "That comes with the position, and the responsibilities of the position.

"I do kind of enjoy it," he admits, "but in the early part of my career I did get very nervous. There's no point in denying it. But in the last two years I found myself getting more and more comfortable with those situations. I suppose it comes with experience. And it's only when you go through your career you realise what experience is. Before, when Humphs was picked ahead of me, it might have been because of his experience, and you'd think 'but that doesn't matter'. It's only now you realise that it actually does matter."

You ask him what's the most nervous he's ever felt on a rugby pitch and he pauses long and hard. He recalls the foot-and-mouth delayed showdown with England in October 2001 at Lansdowne Road when Ireland's 20-14 victory denied them a Grand Slam. O'Gara was sprung from the bench on the hour, and almost the first thing he did was line up a 40-metre penalty from a tricky angle on East Stand side of the pitch.

"I think Humphs had got injured or something. So I was stiff coming on and straight away I had to kick a penalty. We were only three points up, I was pretty nervous inside and like a wounded duck it went over."

He comes across as a more mature, self-confident individual nowadays. He enjoys the relative anonymity of living in Cork, and places great store in the importance of his time away from the game, among family and friends. He is more ambitious than ever, and has been sacrificing an additional hour or two a day for all manner of kicking practice, but you sense with him he maximises his time away from the game. That he's not obsessive.

This time four years ago he would have been more voluble in stating his desire to make thecut. Now older and wiser, he's more inclined toward one-game-at-a-time mode, although against that, were he to make it, O'Gara would put greater expectations on himself. Unlike others, he certainly doesn't harbour misgivings about not being given a fair chance, or anything like that.

"Look, when I think back to what I was then, a relatively inexperienced 23-year-old, just getting on that Lions tour was a goal in itself. I wasn't experienced enough or good enough for the Test team. But I learned a lot from it, and I've set higher standards for myself ever since then, in what I do off the pitch and what I do on it. If I was picked to go to New Zealand, the goal would have to be to get on the Lions team."

Even when not talking about specific goals, it's clear O'Gara is conscious he's entering his prime at 27.

"I want to have as much influence through the game as I can. To play as well as I can, week-in, week-out. I suppose when you think of it, someone like Brian (O'Driscoll) would get on any team in the world. In my case, that wouldn't be the case. I've got to keep trying to climb ladders, and to put more rungs on the ladder. People might say that's ambitious and whether I get there or not, we'll see, but I'm going to keep trying."

With the Lions at the end of it, this is another big year. There's still the small matter of Munster reaching their holy grail in the Heineken European Cup, at which point O'Gara and his team-mates will all be able to sleep easier at night.

"It's still there of course, but it's not something you can become consumed by just yet. Our best chance so far was against Northampton in 2000, but standards have improved an awful lot since then. There are at least six sides who could win it this season. There may be a huge amount of hype around Munster and everyone expects us to get out of the pool, and that all helps to sell the tournament, but even that's become harder than ever, and we've a five-day turnaround before we play Castres after the autumn internationals. We've a long, long way to go yet."

Ditto thinking too far ahead to the Six Nations, when Ireland can realistically harbour ambitions of a first championship win in two decades.

On their road to self-fulfilment, beating the Springboks today for the first time in 39 years would be the most significant step toward that goal this team could take.

"This game, and the games against England and France are the big three. They're the ones you want to peak for."

As ever, O'Gara will be in the firing line. Watching the blindingly quick Boks number eight Joe van Niekerk tear off from the base of scrums in a lateral line toward Stephen Jones, you thought of O'Gara. So, one ventures, did he. "I expect I'll be seeing a fair bit of him," he says, smiling wryly.

His boyish looks may belie his age, but O'Gara is a fairly established international outhalf now, having started in 31 of his 45 Tests. And, of course, he has a firmer hold on the position than he's ever had before. He looks on games like this in a different light too.

"We're very excited about playing at home. A lot of us haven't played at home for quite a while. There's no bigger game to start the season. It's as big a game as it gets really. Probably, before, I would have been nervous about it. But now I'm excited about it."