Little sympathy, just empathy from O’Gara for old mentor Kidney

What goes around, comes around — that appears to be the gist of Ronan O’Gara’s assessment of Declan Kidney’s removal as Ireland head coach.

A little more than five weeks have passed since Kidney left 36-year-old O’Gara “gutted” by his decision to promote Ulster rookie Paddy Jackson to the starting fly-half’s position rather than Ireland’s leading points scorer and record cap holder to replace the injured Jonny Sexton against Scotland at Murrayfield. The Munster veteran was yesterday in a position to sympathise with his long-time mentor after the IRFU decided not to renew the national team head coach’s contract this summer.

“You know, it was.... I was omitted from the squad a few weeks ago and that’s really disappointing and then Deccie got his news yesterday and I’m sure he’s hugely disappointed,” O’Gara said of the man who had coached him since his schooldays at Presentation Brothers College, through Munster’s Heineken Cup successes and onto the 2009 Grand Slam.

“I know the man really well and he’s been there for my whole career so it would be remiss of me not to compliment him on what he’s achieved.

“The last few years haven’t been great but the Grand Slam has been a masterstroke, but that’s the standard we need to be at.

“We need to be contesting Grand Slams every year and the last few years we haven’t been, so in this ruthless business you get moved on for the next person and that’s what’s unfortunately happened to Deccie.

“I’ve have mixed times with him. I’ve had some great times and some challenging times with him but I respect the man and that’s exactly where I stand on the whole thing. It was only when I watched the news last night and saw Cardiff and I was the only one in the red jersey, and all the boys were in green jerseys and we were all on the stage and that’s why you play sport and we need to get back to that stage.

“And that’s why I’m frustrated, or challenged, at Munster at the minute, too. That doesn’t seem to be within arm’s length so we’ve a bit of work to do to get to those stages and that’s for all of us to get behind and get back there and that’s what would concern me.”

O’Gara’s anxiety about Munster’s plight as they head into a difficult Heineken Cup quarter-final at Harlequins in London on Sunday has not dimmed his desire to continue playing any more than his removal from the Ireland squad by Kidney midway through the Six Nations.

“That’s sport,” he said. “Obviously I just thought that for the Scottish game I was the better option but that would change in the summer time, that the new boys would need to be promoted. That’s exactly what I would have backed as well. For a crucial away game I could have done the job against Scotland and then you can just walk off into the sunset happy, or whatever. But that’s the way it goes. I was disappointed at the time, gutted at the time, don’t get me wrong, but then when you leave Carton House you think about these things differently. You see it from outside the bubble and rugby, and Irish rugby and Munster rugby is a bubble, so it’s good to see it as an individual as opposed to deep inside the camp.”

Despite the setbacks of this season with province and country, O’Gara, who has a one-year Munster contract for next season to consider, is still in love with his sport.

“Rugby has given me everything and I’m so thankful for that and I get such a buzz out of it. That’s why I want to play on.

“People will say — ‘why doesn’t he walk with all that he’s achieved.’

“But there’s no crime in playing a game you love and I want to maximise that. But there’s a time and it’s very close when it’s time for me to go. I don’t know whether that will be this season or next season, to be honest with you.

“When we started playing the game there was 200 or 300 people watching Munster-Leinster games, or 500 people, and I think the easy thing now for players coming in is that they expect to win Heineken Cups but there was probably about 10 fellas in Irish rugby who created that path.

“It’s easy repeating that trek to the North Pole but it’s the first fellas that did it and that’s what I take pride in and what motivates me to consistently deliver year in, year out.

“But with that, if you’re around for so long, you’re going to have massive disappointments as well and I’ve had that; but that doesn’t turn me off the game, it turns me on the game, to be honest.”