McNaughton hopes for Rog retirement rethink

RONAN O’GARA’S shock announcement that he would retire from international rugby at the end of the World Cup caught the Ireland team management on the hop but there is a hope in the camp that the emotion of a famous victory had got the better of the veteran fly-half.

Ireland team manager Paul McNaughton admitted he was non-plussed by O’Gara’s retirement hint in a post-match TV interview.

“I haven’t talked to him about it,” McNaughton said. “I don’t exactly know where he was coming from, whether it was the emotion of this being his last World Cup in three or four weeks.

“He’s on a contract with the IRFU and I’ll get to talk to him in the next few days.”

Backs coach Alan Gaffney, who was also O’Gara’s head coach at Munster between 2002 and 2005, hoped the fly-half — who won his 113th Ireland cap at the weekend — was talking in the emotion of having just beaten Australia.

“I sincerely hope so. I love Rog and I have for many, many years, and I think what he brings to the party and what he brings to the table is something special,” Gaffney said “It’s a great contest between him and Jonny at the present time, and it’s not laid down in stone who’s going to start.

“Every time Ronan has gone out in recent times and played, he’s performed; whether he’s started or come off the bench. And I think the fact that he and Jonny have worked extremely well together, they’ve got an enormous amount of respect for each other. I’d hate to see Rog retire from international rugby because I think he’s got a lot to offer.”