O’Gara still hitting the sweet spots

THERE were many pleasing aspects to Munster’s victory over Benetton Treviso at the week-end, most especially the passing and distribution of out-half Ronan O’Gara.

In the ongoing saga involving O'Gara David Humphreys, and Ireland's number ten shirt, it has often been argued that few out-halves get a back line moving more sweetly than O'Gara. He certainly strengthened his case last Saturday.

The dexterity and speed with which he got the ball away to keep the movement going for Munster's first try was sheer class, while there were many other occasions when those outside him revelled in racing on to his perfectly weighted and flighted deliveries. It was little wonder that he was pleased with Munster's display and also with his own contribution.

"To score 50 points and not concede a try in those conditions was very good," he noted. "I think our first try was one of the best we have scored in a long, long time. That's the kind of game we're trying to play. It wasn't an easy ball to handle but it was great to see Wally [David Wallace] tearing on to the ball again, and the whole movement carrying on at pace. We're showing a lot of promise. We're a little bit off where we'd like to be but you're always striving to be better and I think it's coming.

"Treviso were a bit on the weak side but then again we conceded a soft score against Cardiff and another against Bourgoin so it was good that they didn't score at all. Our creativity was good, our options were a lot better, fellas were coming in waves of three rather than waves of one so they weren't sure which ball carrier to target so Frankie [Sheahan], Paul O'Connell, Wally and obviously Anthony [Foley] made a lot of space. There was good variation, we held it in tight sometimes and went wide at other times, and it was good given there was a terrible wind.

"We weren't sure how the result of last week's match was going to go. Not being disrespectful to Treviso, but we felt we were going to win today, and it was a matter of winning well, so it was a different mindset. Bourgoin was obviously a lot more pressurised, this week was a case of getting the performance right whereas last week it was a case of getting the result right. The start of the game was well contested. We kept our patterns, gaps started opening and there was good pressure rugby from us."

O'Gara's coach, Alan Gaffney, appears to have no concerns with O'Gara's difficulties in getting used to the new William Webb Ellis style ball. He missed a few goal kicks on Saturday and also failed to find touch on a couple of occasions, and it could be argued that his line kicking wasn't as lengthy as we have come to expect.

"He's been kicking the ball out of sight," said Gaffney reassuringly. "Mark Tainton, the Irish kicking coach who also worked with him, was over during the week and he was striking it beautifully. He hit some very well against Treviso but the wind just made it impossible and swept the ball right across the posts. You've got to find the sweet spot, that's what the kickers say, if you don't it will just go awry."

O'Gara himself seems to be a little confused. He started off by claiming that he doesn't "have any problems with the ball" but then admitted: "There were a few new balls and they're not good. We have others which are two weeks old and they're quite alright now. The balls need to be kicked in. You can bring out a new ball but it doesn't have the same feel."

O'Gara and his fellow Irish squad members are in Lanzarote this week, for warm weather training which doesn't mean he won't be thinking about the big games coming up against Gloucester next month.

"You never switch off completely, and it's important to get back with Munster and now we're in a good position over Christmas," he commented. "I suppose the weather isn't going to be any better in January and it's a terrible time to be playing the Heineken Cup."

Before that, Munster take on Connacht in the Celtic League under the Athlone lights on January 2.