Ireland duo fume over ‘appalling’ O’Gara claims

LEADING Irish players have backed Ronan O’Gara’s after a week of dramatic developments concerning the 30-year-old out-half.

The player himself spoke publicly on the rumours — his alleged gambling debts and marital problems — which were published in a French newspaper, and would have been reassured yesterday to hear two of his teammates, Jerry Flannery and Donncha O’Callaghan, speak from the heart in support of the beleaguered number 10.

O’Gara admitted he has backed race horses since he was 18 years of age and still does so but rubbished the speculation in last Wednesday’s French sports newspaper, L’Equipe, that he was €300,000 in debt to the bookmakers. And he also spoke of the distress caused by reports that “I have been kicked out of my own house.”

Flannery has been a teammate of O’Gara’s at Munster and Ireland for the past three years while O’Callaghan has played with him for Cork Constitution, Munster and Ireland.

Said Flannery: “Ronan’s a friend of mine and I think it’s disgusting what’s going on there. That’s his own private life and I don’t know why it’s in the press. I don’t want to talk about it except to state that everyone is very good friends with Ronan and to see one of our mates treated like that is appalling.”

O’Callaghan believes all the publicity has been “a distraction, a nuisance and unfair and something this team didn’t need at this time.”

He added: “What’s going on is terrible but it sums up Rog, how much of a professional he is. If I was in his position, I don’t think I could have been as mentally strong as he’s been all week.

“Having to put up with that bull**** is annoying. But I believe he will still be able to build himself up for the Pumas.”

O’Gara branded the claims “despicable”. He said he follows horse racing and places bets on the sport, but insisted there is “no truth” to suggestions of a gambling problem or that he has separated from wife Jessica.

He hoped that by confronting theallegations, the issue would be laid to rest.

“It was difficult for a day or two after these stories came out,” he said.

“The most important thing is that people who know me realise there is no truth whatsoever in these stories. I’ll be seeking advice to find out what is the best way for my wife and I to deal with them. The gambling accusation doesn’t bother me because I’ll say it straight up — I do back horses and do it frequently. I own racehorses and have placed bets since I was 18. But it was said in L’Equipe that I owed €300,000 and that’s a load of nonsense.’’

If anything, O’Gara was more upset by allegations of a troubled marriage than the gambling situation. He and his childhood sweetheart, Jessica Daly, wed in the summer of 2006.

“Reports that I have a troubled marriage are very disappointing to hear“, he commented. “It’s not for me to say I have a perfect marriage. As with everyone else, little things happen but that’s behind closed doors at home. I love my wife and she loves me. There have been rumours about me going around for a year now. The only good thing is that it’s all come out and has now been put to bed. It’s been despicable.

“Talk about disputes in your marriage and being told you’ve been kicked out of your own home are the lowest of the low. My wife is a primary school teacher and I didn’t expect this kind of rubbish. I rang home and braced her for it. I thought ‘Jesus, I can’t believes it’s in the papers’. I didn’t ask for this and neither have I asked for support, but the number of people who have been onto me in the last week has been brilliant.’’

There is no denying that O’Gara has failed to live up to his own high standards on the field. It’s a matter of opinion about how all this controversy has impinged on his rugby but it certainly cannot have helped in spite of all the support he has had from his teammates in France and the number of text messages and e-mails he received from home and further afield.

“Ronan has coped very well with the pressure,” claimed Eddie O’Sullivan. “People will look at his performance against France and probably point the finger at him. However, for Ronan to play to his best, he needs a good flow of possession. You have to factor that into his performance.”

He added: “The O’Gara stories are all over now. What more can you say about them? I don’t believe they have distracted him. People might disagree but I’m more of a view to look at the kind of possession he got when rating his performance.”