Perfect 10 O’Gara kicks Wasps off throne

RONAN O’GARA made Thomond Park his stage once again on Saturday with a display that shattered the hopes of Heineken Cup champions London Wasps and steered his Munster team into the knock-out stages of this marvellous tournament for an incredible 10th successive year.

Donncha O’Callaghan was voted man-of-the-match and he had a magnificent game, as did all eight forwards on a night of high pressure and relentless rain which drained the last drop of energy from each participant.

Standing on a different pedestal, however, was O’Gara. He showed his burning resolution and a very smart turn of speed in the 14th minute to outpace Wasps winger David Doherty and prevent a certain try. He went on to kick five goals from five attempts on a quagmire of a pitch where keeping one’s feet alone was a major challenge. Then there was the manner in which he mixed his tactical kicking. Time and again he confused and unsettled the Wasps defence before late in the game he scythed his way through in classical out-half fashion before delivering a perfect scoring pass to Denis Leamy.