‘O’Gara had gone a little bit blue, and it wasn’t the paint’

IRELAND’S inspirational number eight Denis Leamy recalled the moment that Ronan O’Gara was left discoloured and gasping for air at Murrayfield last Saturday.

“It’s very upsetting and frightening to see a teammate lying there like that,” Leamy acknowledged.

“It’s not something you want to happen in a game of rugby. It’s far too serious and thank God everything is okay. I saw him in a bit of distress in that ruck and I got up and presumed he had freed himself some way and rolled himself out of it. But then I saw John Hayes dropping out of the defensive line on to his knees and took a quick look and obviously Rog was struggling.