O’Gara relishing the chance to reclaim position

RONAN O’GARA returns to the Irish team to play Scotland in Murrayfield on Saturday. The outhalf has been out of action since the 40-14 victory over Samoa during the summer tour, when he suffered a wrist injury.

O’Gara is delighted at getting a chance to stake his claim as first choice outhalf in the last match before the World Cup. “There is a big sense of relief that the injury has cleared up,” he said. “Hopefully, this game will give me some much-needed match sharpness.”

With David Humphreys impressing in his absence, O’Gara knows the pressure is on to perform this weekend, but he isn’t too bothered. “I think I have matured an awful lot in that regard over the past 18 months, there are no nerves going into this game. I am perfectly relaxed. I will probably make one or two mistakes because I have been out for so long, but it will good to get back handling the ball and playing in the team again.”

Although he ended the tour with a bad injury, O’Gara doesn’t regret his decision to travel to the South Pacific. “I think everyone who went there is glad they did. One of the reasons I went was to sharpen my defensive work and we all worked hard on that over there. Teams like Tonga and Samoa mightn’t be world beaters but they have some very good players you can test yourself against defensively.”

Apart from O’Gara, there are eight other changes from the side which recorded a comfortable victory over Italy last weekend, with only Brian O’Driscoll, Eric Miller, Marcus Horan, Reggie Corrigan, Denis Hickie and Victor Costello retaining their places.

This will be the last opportunity for Eddie O’Sullivan to test players in different positions, a situation he was conscious of when selecting: “A lot of other nations are trying different players in different positions and we have to do the same,” said the coach. “A lot of countries are switching their numbers 7 and 8, their winger playing full back. It is not unusual to move players around.

“But when we do it in Ireland, people start to question your sanity. The game has a lot of different facets to it now and we have to start thinking outside the box. We have the players to move around , so there is no reason why we shouldn’t do it.

Keith Wood makes his expected return to captain the side at hooker and although, he felt exhausted after the Welsh game, he is in much better shape to handle himself against face the Scots, although he does accept it will be a much tougher game.

“Scotland will be a much harder test than the other two teams. Players are playing for places now and it is very exciting and intriguing.”

The competitive mood hasn’t affected cast a cloud over the atmosphere in the camp, though. “There is a good atmosphere,” said O’Sullivan. “The lads know when they have to be competitive, and when they are, they are very competitive. But they are all handling it well and I think our results have shown that.”

After the Scotland game, O’Sullivan will choose the 30 men he takes to Australia. A few days later, the squad will jet off to Bilbao for a week’s acclimatisation. “We couldn’t have banked on the weather being so good here,” O’Sullivan said. “The trip to Spain is basically to get the lads ready for the temperatures we will be experiencing, between mid-20s and low 30s. They will learn to cope with that humidity, find out how much sunscreen they need to put on, how much fluid they will lose. They all sound like simple things, but they will be important in Australia.”

Meanwhile, O’Sullivan refused to express any delight over the news yesterday that the injured Toutai Kefu, Australia’s influential vice-captain, will miss the World Cup. “I wouldn’t take delight in anyone missing out on this event. This is the showcase of our sport, the thing we all plan for every four years, and it is sad that he will be missing.”