O’Gara reveals Lions regret

RONAN O’GARA has admitted he still suffers from sleepless nights over his Lions nightmare.

The Munster out-half CAME on as a late replacement with the second Test in the balance at the Loftus Versfeld, was central to two key incidents which allowed South Africa to claim a narrow win and a 2-0 series lead.

Having shipped a heavy blow to the head, O’Gara missed a tackle on Jaque Fourie that enabled the Bok centre to score in the corner.

With the sides deadlocked 25-25 each in the dying seconds, O’Gara then launched a garryowen in an attempt to engineer the Lions into a position to steal a win, only to impede receiver Fourie du Preez and concede the last-gasp penalty which Morné Steyn converted to give the hosts victory. O’Gara has previously insisted he wouldn’t do anything differently, claiming the decision “doesn’t cost me a thought”.

But asked if the Lions incident hurt him more than Munster’s 30-0 loss to Leinster nine days ago, O’Gara agreed unreservedly.

“The Lions is such a unique event and such a great environment for rugby; you strive for four years to put it into 80 minutes, and then for it to come down to a pivotal moment like that, its particularly disappointing,” he told Sky Sports.

“There’s nights at home where I can’t sleep as a result of it; I’ve had nights like that before and you have to get over it, but thinking back, it’s hard to take and hard to accept.”

O’Gara insisted the Lions “should have been out of sight” prior to the late drama, but conceded that his contribution will be remembered for the wrong reasons.

“I realise I had a big input into us losing that game, and that’ll sit with me. (But) it won’t weigh on me, I’ve to accept that and move on.”