O’Gara: This time, desire is driven by us
While Ireland’s warm-up Test schedule last month did not go according to plan, with four defeats out of four, 34-year-old O’Gara continued the good form that has seen him vie with Jonny Sexton in the selection stakes throughout last season’s Six Nations.
It all makes for an interesting dilemma for head coach Declan Kidney with both half-back positions apparently up for grabs and O’Gara, having pronounced himself “very happy” with his August form, relishing the challenge of earning his place in the starting XV to face the United States next Sunday, when Ireland kick off their Pool C campaign in New Plymouth.
“I had time to reflect coming out and thinking about what I want to achieve,” O’Gara said in Queenstown. “It’s been good really, every time I got on the pitch.
“The Six Nations couldn’t have gone much better from my point of view, in terms of the Italy game, we should have beaten France. The Scotland game went well, Wales was all right; for 50 minutes, we were still winning...not washing my hands of it. So, in that regard I’ve got plenty of rugby and plenty of game time.
“There is a myth that I’m sitting on the bench. Statistically it doesn’t add up like that so from my point of view I’ve become really positive and feel I have a big role and I’m important. And so is Jonny obviously, so it’s working out all right … and that’s not a politician’s answer.”
As for the half-back spots being wide open, O’Gara said: “I hope so. That’s the way it should be; when you have two good players, if a fella isn’t playing well there’s another fella and in you go. And you don’t read into it about being dropped, or putting your head down or anything.
“That’s the reality of it: you have a minimum of four 80 minutes and no number 10 is going to play the 80. You’re going to try and get the best out of a fella for a 50-30
“With the quality we have, it will be rare that a fella will play 80.”
O’Gara spoke last season about a new-found enthusiasm for the game he has played at the highest level for 11 years, earning 111 caps in the process and becoming Ireland’s record points scorer.
“It’s taken an awful lot of time, not to enjoy it but to express yourself and have a go. Sometimes you get pigeon-holed as being not able to do that, but just go out and play, enjoy yourself. That’s exactly the way I’m playing for the last 18 months.”
O’Gara believes he is also a different player from the fly-half he was even 12 months ago but despite having won two Heineken Cups with his province and a Grand Slam for his country, he said it would take a successful World Cup campaign to truly win the respect of the world’s best rugby nations. And that meant, at 34, this coming tournament was his last shot.
“I think I’m a better player, and hopefully in six months’ time I’ll be better again. From my point of view, it’s all about the next two months. That’s basically what it’s like to me.
“It’s taken a lot of us a fair bit of time to earn respect at European level, and it’s only when you win European Cups that you get that respect. At world level we haven’t done that and we don’t have the respect of people around the world.
“That’s fair enough because until you do you don’t deserve it. This team disappointed four years ago and in 2003, mentally we were a bit weak. We were delighted to beat Argentina and then there was a game to be won against Australia, yet we weren’t at the pitch mentally to win that.
“This time around, it’s driven by the players. There have been different management, but there are a lot of us that realise it’s our last shot at something big. It’s important we go for that, as opposed to finding an excuse and coming home and one club winning a European Cup, because it’s not good enough. It’s limited compensation, because this is a completely different level.”
O’Gara is aware of what it takes to earn that respect but also mindful of the knife edge World Cup campaigns teeter on.
“It’s for us to feel content in our own hearts, and that comes with winning, being brutally honest about it, at this level. With the way the group is, there is a big opportunity for us to progress yet it could be humiliating as well. It’s all to play for, and that’s what excites me as opposed to putting pressure on us.”
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