The battle of wounded knee
THEY came at him breathing fire, just like Dragons are expected to. The number ten took the pass expertly, swung his right leg at the ball and cleared the danger. As he did so, however, they caught him, the leg bent grotesquely and the thousands at Rodney Parade winced.
You didn’t need to be a doctor to realise serious damage had been caused. The luckless victim, Ronan O’Gara, feared the worst. And that’s why, six weeks later, he is counting his lucky stars and happily contemplating his second Lions tour in four years.
True, there was the disappointment of missing Munster’s Heineken Cup quarter-final in Biarritz, but as O’Gara readily admits now, it could have been a lot worse.
The good news is due largely to the genius of Limerick physio, Ger Hartmann, combined with his own unstinting desire to overcome the potential nightmare.
“The injury is gone now after all the hard work of the last six weeks,” O’Gara said after an all-out training session ahead of today’s Celtic Cup final for Munster against the Llanelli Scarlets.
“I had about four injuries in one, all in the area of the right knee. I did a fair bit of damage. When I took the knock, I knew I was in trouble. I just presumed it was medial damage. The first scan showed no damage to the cruciate, the second revealed there was damage. That was very worrying. Basically, I was a day away from an operation when I met Ger Hartmann.
“He felt it could be put right without a scope and put in five hours of rehab work every day for the next six weeks. It was all done in Limerick so it’s been an unbelievable workload.
“It was very difficult to have to go outside the camp for treatment. I would just like to thank the people within the squad for understanding that decision.
“I had a Lions tour at stake and had to look after myself the best I could so that decision had to be made. That’s why all the top athletes come back to him. I’m absolutely delighted with the treatment I got.”
He says it was a friend of his in Dublin, Alan Kelly, the guardian of many an injured GAA player, who suggested that Hartmann might be able to help. It so happened that Paula Radcliffe was preparing for the London marathon and was based in Limerick with Hartmann for the six weeks leading up to the race she subsequently won.
“Ger told me he’d fit me in because most of her hard training was done,” says O’Gara. “Basically, it was just the two of us for three weeks while others came in and out. Fair play to Ray Moran, the top knee surgeon in Ireland, he was brilliant. He’s a colleague of Ger’s. Once aware that I was working under Ger, he told me that rehab surgery wasn’t necessarily required. It was physiotherapy and a lot of hard work ... long, tedious stability sessions.
“We worked my whole body from the waist down to get that right, stuff I would never have had a clue about. I go in with one injury and he points out five weaknesses to work on.
“I never feared that my career might be in jeopardy, but the Lions tour certainly was. In 2001, I was a rookie selection and delighted to get in after one year of international experience. Things had gone well and probably showed I was talented. To display that consistency for the last four years and to get back again was very satisfying.
“Of course, the injury came at a bad time. It was disappointing because I would like to have beaten Biarritz; maybe I’d have made a difference, maybe not, but I felt it was a game there for the taking. I feared the Lions tour might be gone out the window when I heard I was going for a scope but now I’m confident that only a new injury will stop me from going. That’s how good and strong the leg is.”
O’Gara’s left leg, his stability leg for kicking, is weaker now than his right leg and he acknowledges it’s an area he will have to work on when he returns from the Lions.
“It’s been fascinating and I feel very privileged and fortunate to have worked with these people,” he said. “But I’ve worked damned hard on it as well to give myself every chance.
“The Munster physios Kirsty [Peacocke] and Mick Greene were going away to matches and had 40 guys to deal with. Of course, I was paying top dollar to Ger but he had the time. I basically lived with this man for six weeks. I did a fair bit of travelling up and down every day.
“I have a life at home, too, but everything was put on hold. It was my future sister-in-law’s house that was broken into in Cork last week and that introduced a touch of perspective to the whole thing. Up to then, I was cocooned in my own world getting my knee right. Something like that makes you aware of what life is really about.”
His girlfriend Jessica Daly is sister of Katie O’Donovan, who, along with her husband, was held hostage by a gang. It was a difficult time for all concerned.
Professionally, however, Ronan now has to cope with a situation where he will have had only one match in nine weeks when he boards the plane for New Zealand.
“That’s an issue which I have to deal with mentally,” he reasoned. “I feel very fortunate to be so far ahead of where I could be. I feel very sharp out there. The batteries are recharged and I’m ready to go. I don’t have that much rugby under my belt recently but I’ve plenty of know-how to draw on when it counts. I’ll enjoy Saturday but I don’t expect to run the show. I just want to get in there with my friends again.
“The tour itself will be a wonderful experience. The buzz from the two days we had together in Cardiff was great. You have 44 players, and that’s a lot, but the standard of the player is so much different this time. The English players were better the last time, they were more professional, but nowadays there’s nothing between any of the four nations. It all makes for an enthralling scenario. All you can do is control your own form. If you get picked, brilliant, if you don’t, well there’s so much more to a Lions tour than making a Test team. What fellas will learn from it is invaluable and on the other side, the All Blacks will be up for it big time because they only have a Lions tour every 12 years.
“Wales won the Grand Slam, Ireland a Triple Crown last year, England the World Cup and a few of their stalwarts are there so it’s a nice mix. A Lions tour is big stuff and hopefully I’ll go on two of them.
“I’ve worked hard at it but I’m a firm believer you only get out what you put in.”
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