O’Gara not fazed by cap milestone or the Welsh

GIVEN that it took the peerless Jack Kyle from 1947 to 1958 to accumulate his 46 Irish caps, it is little wonder that Ronan O’Gara isn’t exactly getting carried away at winning his 40th against Wales tomorrow.

Instead, he seems far more excited at the selection of Donnacha O'Callaghan, his Cork Constitution and Munster teammate, for his first start in an Irish jersey.

"Caps nowadays are far easier to get than in the past," he accepts. "But for Donnacha, this is brilliant and I'm absolutely delighted for him. He's a true professional. He works so bloody hard off the pitch putting in his own hours and it couldn't happen to a nicer family. A fella with an attitude like that can't go wrong.

"The only criticism you could have of Donnacha is that he tries too hard, and that will come. I couldn't speak highly enough of him. He's a wonderful, wonderful player and a fine person as well. It's a massive tribute to him that he should be taking Malcolm O'Kelly's place."

All very true. But a 40th cap still remains a personal milestone no matter how circumstances may have changed. It's a great achievement for O'Gara, 27 in March, especially considering that he has been so frequently omitted from the Irish side in his ongoing battle with David Humphreys for the number 10 shirt.

"I can remember the first cap easily enough," he says with that familiar shy smile. "It was the 19th of February, 2000, against Scotland. I was pretty nervous and the game went much quicker than I expected.

"Now, I can appreciate the big days and savour the atmosphere a lot more. But I don't think the 40th is a milestone by any means. It won't be an issue for me just a good starting point and hopefully there will be another 40.

"I was always a bit frustrated with coaches when they used lack of experience as an excuse for not picking me. But the more you think about it, you do become wiser with age, and it's then you appreciate what experience means. You find yourself in certain situations at certain times and you use experience to save you. When you're a rookie, you don't have that."

His superb line kicking for Munster against Bourgoin in the Heineken Cup meant that the side spent most of the day deep in enemy territory, from where they eventually clinched the bonus point that has set them up for a home quarter-final against Stade Francais. It was that kind of form that finally convinced Irish coach Eddie O'Sullivan that O'Gara was the man for the number 10 shirt at national level, although O'Sullivan hadn't always seen it like that, and most especially in the World Cup in Australia last autumn.

O'Gara justified his selection at the Stade de France, his place-kicking blemishless, and his chip and chase for Anthony Foley's try was the stuff of sheer class.

Ronan has had mixed fortunes in his clashes with the Welsh over the past few years. It will be readily recalled how the Neath flanker Brett Sinkinson put him out of action for a couple of months with a late and dangerous tackle in the Celtic League final at the Millennium Stadium a little over 12 months ago. The situation, some six weeks later, was rich in irony when he was brought in as a late replacement for Humphreys in the Ireland-Wales game on the same ground and proved the difference between the sides.

"I was called in with maybe eight or nine minutes to go," he recalled. "We were a point or two up at the time but it wasn't looking good and they went ahead with a great drop goal by Stephen Jones. As it happened, I got a fortuitous drop goal from the restart, it wasn't the best of strikes, but I've kicked plenty of fine ones that have gone wide. I had hardly touched the ball before that moment."

Welsh rugby was still very much in the doldrums at that time and yet Ireland were stretched to the very limit to win that game. They have moved up several notches in the meantime, after a fine World Cup in which they played some delightful rugby against New Zealand and England, and are coming to Dublin on a high after last week's easy victory over Scotland.

"They're a team on the up, beginning to believe in themselves, and they'll be dangerous," says O'Gara. "I've played against Stephen Jones a few times. He's probably in a similar situation to myself, playing for Llanelli, a team not dissimilar to Munster. He's obviously a good player and a nice fellow off the pitch as well. He's a danger man, but they have Harris and Parker in the centre, always a threat if things fall their way, while the back three are hugely exciting. Shane and Rhys Williams are small but they're good and Gareth Thomas at full-back is a fine player."