O’Gara encouraged by display of makeshift side

Ireland captain for the night Ronan O’Gara found plenty of positives in the performance of his makeshift XV despite their 29-28 defeat to the Barbarians in Gloucester last night.

The non-cap game at Kingsholm to a Mick O’Driscoll-led Baa-Baas side was decided by a 78th-minute penalty by O’Gara’s long-time rival from Leinster Felipe Contepomi — but the Munster and Ireland fly-half was encouraged by the way his young team quickly gelled after such a short time together, with Craig Gilroy scoring two tries and Keith Earls and Simon Zebo also getting over the line in an eight-try encounter.

“We came in on Thursday to Carton House and we wouldn’t have even thrown a ball at some of the people so it was really encouraging,” O’Gara said. “There were a lot of young fellas who showed what they were capable of tonight. We struggled with some of the interpretations of the ref, particularly at the breakdown. It was four to one in terms of the penalty count and it’s hard to do anything when that happens.

“When it’s that one-sided you begin to wonder what’s going on a small bit when you’re on the pitch. But there were some really encouraging things and there was a great atmosphere on the pitch.

“We’re disappointed, it would have been nice to win, that’s why we play the game, but there were some really encouraging aspects to it.”

Ireland head coach Declan Kidney was relieved to have no serious injuries to report on the eve of his squad’s departure for New Zealand and a three-Test series against the All Blacks, although back-rower Peter O’Mahony was withdrawn following a bang on the neck that tightened up.

Kidney said he expected him to be okay but first-choice tight head prop Mike Ross, who injured a hamstring in Leinster’s RaboDirect final defeat to Ospreys last Sunday, is a doubt for the first Test in Auckland on Jun 9.

Of last night’s defeat, Kidney said: “In an ideal world you’d start off a tour with a win, that’s not to be.

“We guessed after watching Sunday’s game that the other Barbarians might turn up and, in fairness to the Baa-Baas, they did. I thought they were well-focused for the game, they played well and they made the power show at times.

“It was a tough game but one that got away from us in the last three minutes.”