IRB can’t wash hands on choking furore

HEADING back up the boreen towards the hut on the hills on my regular daily constitutional yesterday morning, it was heartening to see the long shadow being cast before me, almost the first occasion this year.

Yes, the sun finally appeared, no sign of the rain nor the rainclouds that so darkened our days for weeks on end — hopefully a sign of things to come.

Opening my paper, however, reading of events in Murrayfield on Saturday last, another long shadow was cast, but a shadow far less welcome.

Why is it that Eddie O’Sullivan is left almost isolated in his outrage over what happened to Ronan O’Gara in the final seconds of the Triple Crown clinching win over Scotland?

Where is the national and international outcry over what happened to the Irish out-half, over what could have happened had that final ruck lasted for perhaps half a minute longer?

To this day, several years on, I am still incensed no player was punished in the Brian O’Driscoll spearing incident two years ago, when his Lions tour was ended just minutes into the first test against New Zealand.

Two players, two of the best players in the world, Tana Umaga and Kevin Mealamu, picked up the Lions captain, turned him upside down, and flung him headfirst to the ground.

It could have broken his neck, it did seriously damage his shoulder, to the point he needed serious reconstructive surgery to allow him back onto the playing field, several months later. It was there, on television, for everyone to see. It wasn’t as if O’Driscoll was still involved in play; he wasn’t. But he was an ongoing threat to the All Blacks, and this was an early opportunity to lay a little hurt on him.

Just as he was this weekend, Eddie was outraged over the incident, spoke his mind in no uncertain terms, and rightly so. What happened? Nothing.

Neither Umaga nor Mealamu served a minute’s suspension, and both went on to play their part in the mauling of the Lions, sans O’Driscoll.

Disgraceful.

What’s going to happen over the O’Gara incident last Saturday? Again, it looks it will be ignored, brushed under the carpet by the powers-that-be in rugby, left to die a natural death. Again Eddie O’Sullivan will be left to look a crybaby, a whinger, a moaner, no support from those who should be most concerned. Again, disgraceful.

There appears no doubt in the Irish camp that O’Gara was deliberately targeted at the bottom of that ruck in Murrayfield, that someone deliberately put their hands on his throat, deliberately tried to choke him.

The photographs of the seconds immediately after the incident are really frightening; thank God John Hayes had the wherewithal to immediately put him in the ‘recovery’ position, but it’s clear from the pictures that O’Gara is out cold, his face blue.

I’ve spoken to a couple of medical professionals on this and they tell me, had that ruck gone on, had his brain been deprived of oxygen a further half-minute or more, then the consequences could have been serious, perhaps brain-damage or even worse.

Question: does the fact that the fateful ruck broke up when it did, that Hayes immediately acted, that O’Gara made an almost instant recovery, mean everything is alright then? No.

We’re not talking about a raking here, a stamping, some low bag-snatching, even lower eye-gouging. This is serious, potentially fatal. In their defence, the Scottish RFU is claiming innocence, claiming outrage.

Well, fine — let’s at least put it to the test, because that’s the least that’s called for here. The IRB should now hold its own enquiry. This was a serious incident, Ireland and O’Sullivan have made a serious allegation; the IRB must act immediately. It wouldn’t take much analysis to isolate the players involved in that ruck, players both Irish and Scottish. In an effort to establish exactly what happened, all of those players should be interviewed.

If, as the Scots claim, it was an accident, entirely innocent, that would be fantastic; but if, as O’Sullivan claimed, it wasn’t, then someone has to pay the price. If the IRB itself won’t undertake such an enquiry, then the matter should be referred to the police.

Just because there is no solid video evidence doesn’t mean there should be no investigation.

Like most Irish rugby fans, I was disappointed at the display in Murrayfield, the repeated mental lapses, though delighted they still showed the character to come back and win. That incident, however, leaves a bitter taste, a dark shadow; if the IRB washes its hands of it, the IRFU should go directly to the Scottish police.

O’Driscoll, O’Gara — who’s next?