O’Gara’s game needs that vital kick-start

AS an out-half, Ronan O’Gara has few equals in the world game.

However as a goal kicker he has been a pale shadow of himself in recent times as was graphically illustrated again on Saturday night in Munster’s Magners League loss to Ospreys.

Two successful shots at goal, one from under the sticks, the second from the edge of touch, in the province’s embarrassing defeat to their below-strength hosts at the Liberty Stadium, are the evidence of the inconsistency resulting from O’Gara’s attempts to change his place-kicking technique.

The fact that he missed five others, at least three of which would be normally second nature to one of the game’s greatest marksmen, indicates that something is radically wrong in this crucial department and the fear exists that the malaise could spreadinto his overall game.

The urgent message has to be: Ronan: go back to what you know best.

For much of 2009, golfer Pádraig Harrington tinkered with his golf swing. The result? He could hardly make a cut. Just before it was too late, he went back to basics. The result? He reeled off a string of top five finishes, banked close on €3m and made his way back to number five in the world.

O’Gara has been – and I’m sure still is – one of rugby’s most important players. If he is to remain so, and remember that because of the way the laws of the game are currently constructed, goal kicking is probably the most important art of all, then his ratio of success with the placed ball has to improve hugely.

Friday night’s vital Munster-Perpignan Heineken Cup game at Thomond Park would be the perfect platform to return to kicking form. There have been murmurings that not only should Paul Warwick take over the place kicking duties from O’Gara but he should also be handed the number 10 jersey with Keith Earls reverting to full-back and Ian Dowling starting on the left wing.

In the worst possible scenario, it wouldn’t be the end of the world – in other words, were O’Gara unavailable for one reason or another, most would settle for that formation. Thankfully he is fit and so remains a vital member of the Munster team. And when the going gets tough, none get tougher than the Cork man. It’s just that it would be a huge help if he was to find his place kicking boots.

This is a major problem area for Tony McGahan heading into the clash with the French champions. However, after what we saw in Swansea on Saturday, it is far from the only issue in need or resolution if there isn’t to be a sudden elimination from European action in the next couple of weeks.

After a bright start, during which they were awarded a rather charitable penalty try by another inconsistent Scottish referee, Neil Paterson, Munster gradually lost their purpose, their composure and their shape.

No doubt, McGahan will attribute a lot of this to the fact it was the team’s first game together for four weeks.

Munster don’t do panic and it’s just as well, considering that Perpignan are due at Thomond Park in five days and smelling blood. In that space of time, though, Munster will desperately try to rediscover the cohesion and intensity that marked their best display of the season, against Ulster, just before the November break.

They’ve done it before and they can do it again. Furthermore, three key men were missing from each row of the scrum on Saturday. Jerry Flannery, Paul O’Connell and David Wallace are world-class players who will be the better for a rest and there is hope that newcomer Wian Du Preez can shore up the loose-head berth in the absence of Marcus Horan. The back division will probably remain unchanged from that which started in Swansea. In fairness, none deserve the chop considering the sloppy service they received from the forwards but the team as an entity has to step up a few gears if Munster are to have no more to play for in 2010 than a top-four finish in the Magners League.