Wednesday, November 25, 2009
THIS most definitely is not the end of the line for Ronan O’Gara.
That was the stance of Ireland coach Declan Kidney last night even though he had omitted his celebrated number 10 from the side to take on world champions South Africa at Croke Park on Saturday. Preference has gone to Jonathan Sexton, who grasped the opportunity handed to him last week in the game against Fiji in magnificent fashion, when he also built on a fast-growing reputation established in a succession of big matches with Leinster.
There is no doubt that this was a massive call for Kidney, who has coached O’Gara and been his close friend since his earliest days at Presentation College. In all their times together, he had never dropped him from any side and it would have saddened him to do so now. That’s why he was at pains to stress that O’Gara still has an important role to play in an Irish context.
"I know we have a world-class out-half in Ronan," he pointed out. "But we have to find out things about ourselves. I thought Jonathan had a good game last week. Fiji, with due respect, were short a few so it is probably hard to read much from that match so I just need to find out more.
"I worked with Jonathan last year when we gave him the nod in the A team and he answered a lot of questions. We need to grow as a team. I know we have Ronan and there will be disappointment that he’s not playing but I can’t play everybody all of the time. There’s no right time, there’s no wrong time, I just decided to give Jonathan a go this time."
O’Gara was last omitted from an Irish team for a meaningful match against Argentina in the 2003 World Cup in Adelaide. The same day, he came on as second-half replacement for David Humphreys and went on to play a key role in forging a single-point win for his side under unbelievable pressure.
You certainly could have heard a pin drop in the Killiney hotel yesterday as the coach announced his decision. Even the normally unflappable Kidney was feeling the tension and resorted to the water bottle more than is usually the case as he broke the news and responded to the inevitable interrogation.
He knew O’Gara would have felt hard done by, not least because he had a fine match in his most recent appearance in the green jersey a fortnight ago against Australia during which he earned his 93rd cap and racked up his international tally of points to 929.
"Ronan would be like any player who has been left out of a team, he is disappointed," said Kidney. "But Ronan is the perfect pro and contributed to the team just exactly as you know he would."
Asked how difficult the decision was for him personally, Kidney replied: "That doesn’t really matter... all that matters is to pick an Irish team and that’s what I have done. I don’t think it’s of any relevance here."
Pressed further on whether it was always his plan to give Sexton his head against the Springboks, Kidney insisted: "No, you take every game as it comes. I thought Ronan played well against Australia and Jonathan went okay last week. But as a side, we need to grow so when do you give him a go? I’d like to be playing Ronan and Jonathan but I can only have one."
Kidney accepted he doesn’t know a whole lot about Sexton’s ability to stand up to the enormous pressure certain to prevail on Saturday, simply underlining again that he had to be given the opportunity. Perhaps, though, it had something to do with the age gap. Sexton will be 26 when the 2011 World Cup takes place and O’Gara will be 34.
"That’s why we need to find things out," he stated. "There’s no way we’re going to get to a World Cup and play four or five warm-up games but to say the decision was based entirely on that would be wrong. We have a chance to play the world champions in our own backyard so you don’t take risks. You have a plan in place and you’re trying to find things out as you go along."
Captain Brian O’Driscoll and O’Gara have combined together more than 50 times in the Irish midfield over the past decade and have developed an invaluable understanding and close friendship. So it will be a strange feeling for O’Driscoll to go into such a big game without his old sidekick.
"Declan is giving Jonny another opportunity after proving himself against an understrength Fijian side," he declared. "Now he’s going out against the world champions and they are two different prospects. From Rog’s point of view, he will be disappointed.
"I’m sure he was disappointed to be left out against Fiji last week just as he is to be sitting on the bench this week. But he’s a strong character, he has shown time and time again that he turns up for the big moments. We know Rog is capable of that and it’s just a chance to give Jonny a chance to prove his worth."
© Examiner Publications (Cork) Limited, City Quarter, Lapps Quay, Cork. Registered in Ireland: 73385.
