McGahan and O’Connell hail Rog’s mental toughness

COACH Tony McGahan and captain Paul O’Connell sang from identical hymn sheets as they hailed Ronan O’Gara’s last-gasp match-winning drop goal without so much as an eyebrow raised.

“The plaudits? Where do you stop?,” gushed McGahan. “It was an amazing kick at the end of 80 minutes in what was a fast paced game to get yourself in position when the other 14 lads had done the work and then put your hand up to take it. I think we’ve seen other 10s push themselves out of that position, but he put his hand up, said he wanted to do it and it was one of the sweetest strikes we’ve seen for a long time.

“You really want a strong mental conviction, a strong mental toughness, to do that, but he’s been exactly like that throughout his whole career and none more so than now.”