Mauling of O’Gara criticised

LIONS’ coaches, players and even a former All Black have reacted strongly in support of Ronan O’Gara following some poisonous criticism of the out-half’s performance against Bay Of Plenty.

The New Zealand media savaged the Ireland fly-half for defensive frailties and poor goal-kicking as the tourists got this tour off to a winning start at the Rotorua International Stadium on Saturday.

The Lions opened strongly and sharply with three brilliantly executed tries against last year's NPC semi-finalists before enduring a wobbly second 20 minutes, pre-empted by the loss of Lawrence Dallaglio to a broken ankle.

That spell saw Bay Of Plenty storm back to tie things up at 17-17 by half-time before a more composed second half from the Lions kept the home side to just three points as Clive Woodward's side ran in three more tries to overcome a spirited provincial side 34-20.

For O'Gara, though, it was a peculiar game. With six warm-up matches before the first Test against the All Blacks in Christchurch on June 25 and four fly-halves competing for the No 10 shirt, he had said chances would be few to impress the selectors. His start against Bay Of Plenty, he believed, would quite likely be his one and only shot at stealing a march on Charlie Hodgson and dislodging Jonny Wilkinson and Stephen Jones as front-runners.

O'Gara himself will know that two conversions from six attempts does not represent a good enough return from his usually consistent right boot, but nothing could have prepared him for the way the local press focused their attentions on him.

The New Zealand Herald on Sunday gave O'Gara a 4/10 rating with the accompanying comment: "Knows how to kick for the corners but Ronan Keating would be a better tackler." And that was the polite stuff.

Yet Lions head coach Clive Woodward and his assistant Eddie O'Sullivan led a spirited defence of their man and they were ably supported by O'Gara's half-back partner, Dwayne Peel of Wales, praising the Irishman for steering the Lions out of a stormy last 20 minutes of the opening period with an assured display of tactical kicking that kept the previously rampant Bay pegged in their own half and provided the platform for the tourists to open up a match-winning lead.

Ireland coach O'Sullivan was asked if he agreed that the fly-half had had a tough match, to which he replied: "I guess it depends on which part of his game you're looking at. I thought in the second half he gave a masterclass in tactical kicking. He did slip off a couple of tackles in the first half and that might have been due to the fact that we could have probably given him more support at that time the Bay were running off some quick ball.

"I suppose it wasn't a complete game but I'd be inclined to look at both sides and, as I say, he gave a masterclass in tactical kicking."

Woodward jumped in then and also answered the criticism, adding: "I have to say in the second half I thought Ronan was the outstanding player. He totally controlled the game and got us field position and territory. He allowed us to get a lot of composure back and I think he kept his head brilliantly well. I thought he had a great game."

That view was backed up yesterday by former All Black player and coach Laurie Mains, not usually an ally of the Lions having the previous week predicted a 3-0 Blackwash in the tests to New Zealand. Yet Mains credited Saturday's victory to O'Gara: "The Lions were able to win because of Ronan O'Gara's sublime tactical kicking in the second half. He was able to take the fire out of the BOP attack by firing his kicks downfield."

Peel was also appreciative of O'Gara's efforts. "I hadn't played with him before, but we'd worked well together all week and I thought it went well. His kicking was brilliant in the second half and took a lot of pressure off our guys."

The truth is, O'Gara's performance was probably somewhere in between those polarised views. The missed tackles were painful to watch, as the Bay clawed their way back to tie the game having gone 17-0 down following a blistering, three-try start by the Lions, only one of which had been converted.

Munster's Celtic Cup final hero of last month played a big part in the third of those tries, employing a familiar tactic of kicking along the line to the wide open spaces of the right corner, where Mark Cueto was the grateful recipient for an easy touchdown. Nor was O'Gara the only weak link in a creaky defensive line which clocked up a combined total of 11 missed tackles; captain Brian O'Driscoll was another culprit as Murray Williams skipped in for the home side's second try of the night.

There is also a strong case for pointing the finger at Welsh centre Gavin Henson for going walkabout in midfield when the heat was on his team-mate inside him as the Bay levelled matters at 17 apiece going in at the break.

There were no such problems for Peel, however, who took his chance to shine with both hands. Josh Lewsey rightly gets the man-of-the-match plaudits for an assured all-round performance highlighted by scoring the first two tries of the tour and setting up substitute Gordon D'Arcy for the final try of the night. Yet Peel has staked an early claim to the Test spot just behind the scrum, even keeping scrum-half rival Matt Dawson on the bench until three minutes from time.

"I thought the pack played extremely well. We always knew it was going to be a hard physical battle up front and they didn't disappoint us there. Obviously there are areas for us to work on but I think we can take a lot of positives out of that game and getting the win was critical," said the Welsh No 9.

"It was a difficult game but in the second half, Ronan's kicking, Brian's (O'Driscoll) kicking, Gav (Henson) and myself kicked well tactically in the second half and took a lot of pressure off ourselves."

BAY OF PLENTY: A Cashmore, F Bolavucu, A Bunting, G McQuoid, A Tahana, M Williams, K Senio; S Davison (T Filise, 64), A Lutui, B Castle, M Sorenson (P Tupai, 64), B Upton, W Ormond captain, N Latu, C Bourke (W Smith, 45).

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: J Lewsey, M Cueto, B O'Driscoll, capt, G Henson (G D'Arcy, 70), T Shanklin (M Dawson, 77), R O'Gara, D Peel; G Jenkins, G Bulloch (S Thompson, 65), M Stevens (A Sheridan, 65), P O'Connell, B Kay, R Hill, M Williams, L Dallaglio (M Corry,23).

Referee: Paul Honiss, New Zealand.