Kidney explains O’Gara omission

THIS most definitely is not the end of the line for Ronan O’Gara.

That was the stance of Ireland coach Declan Kidney last night even though he had omitted his celebrated number 10 from the side to take on world champions South Africa at Croke Park on Saturday. Preference has gone to Jonathan Sexton, who grasped the opportunity handed to him last week in the game against Fiji in magnificent fashion, when he also built on a fast-growing reputation established in a succession of big matches with Leinster.

There is no doubt that this was a massive call for Kidney, who has coached O’Gara and been his close friend since his earliest days at Presentation College. In all their times together, he had never dropped him from any side and it would have saddened him to do so now. That’s why he was at pains to stress that O’Gara still has an important role to play in an Irish context.