O’Gara: We got out of a hole
And the veteran fly-half was forthright about the consequences of being on the first Ireland side to lose to Italy in a Six Nations match had he not slotted over a face-saving and game-winning drop goal to secure a 13-11 win at Stadio Flaminio.
“It would have been an almighty kick in the balls for us if we had lost today; let’s call a spade a spade. It was important that we got out of that hole,” he admitted.
“We won the Georgia game (14-10) as well obviously, but (against Italy) we made a lot of handling errors in ideal conditions for rugby. They added up. It might only happen to individuals once or twice but do the sums and if that happens to eight fellas, it’s 10 turnovers which probably equates to 20 minutes less pressure on them.
“At times there was great intensity (from Ireland), and there were nearly some cracking tries scored. But, at this level, ‘nearly’ isn’t good enough.”
O’Gara came off the bench in the 66th minute to replace Jonathan Sexton with Ireland leading 10-6 thanks to a Brian O’Driscoll try just after the break, his predecessor having added a conversion to a first-half penalty.
The Munster fly-half then saw the pressure mount as McLean went over, although Mirco Bergamasco’s missed conversion kept the game firmly in the balance.
O’Gara was simply grateful to his team-mates for providing the platform yet again to get within drop-kicking range.
“I was very fresh coming on to the pitch and we were leading when Johnny came off, don’t forget that.
“Then they scored and it was looking like Georgia all over again. I was thinking ‘No, don’t do this’.
“I asked who would win the restart, because a few of the lads were blowing. There were about six or seven voices that popped up, and that’s always encouraging to hear. I just said that I needed more than one fella going for it.
“I kicked it, it was probably a small bit too far, but there was great intensity in the chase and there was good hang-time, so maybe we got a hand to force the knock-on and then we had the scrum. From there we called the play, which was central to Brian (O’Driscoll).
“I didn’t expect to get the ball back off him, but I think it worked well.
“We caught them on the edge; it was front foot, there were a few good carries and I think Drico was involved in punching it up. Then we just worked it to the centre and I had plenty of time.
“I felt very relaxed and it sums up my mood at the minute. I’ve been really excited and confident the last two weeks in camp, which is unlike me I think! It was great. At that stage you go on autopilot and you don’t think too much.”
O’Gara agreed that his experience from more than 100 Tests had been crucial for the rescue mission. “I think it does (count). As a young fella you don’t understand that - I’ve been through that. Then you get to my position, and I’ve been lucky to steer the Irish ship and the Munster ship for 10 years.
“Then someone like Johnny comes in and he’s really good, but I think sometimes the ship hits choppy waters and that’s when you bring someone in. Johnny was playing well today, but it was good that I got backed to come on and try to win the game.
“That’s important - to have two fellas fighting it out - and we can offer a lot going forward in that regard. It is experience, and it was just important that when the gun was put to our head, we found another gear.”
Luke Fitzgerald, who enjoyed his first start at full-back, explained Irish emotions at full-time.
“First of all there was a big sigh of relief from everyone,” the Leinster back said. “We obviously put ourselves under a bit more pressure than we would have liked.
“But I think there are an awful lot of positives to take from in that we got ourselves together well, we gathered on our own line and there was no panic. I thought we did really well to get ourselves into drop goal range and the rest is history - Rog did a great job and we managed to hang on.”
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