An 11-hour flight gets Ronan O'Gara thinking

An 11-hour flight getting to Hong Kong gives you plenty of reasons to burn the weekend’s tests onto a CD, and plenty of time to dissect them, writes Ronan O'Gara.

I brought three games with me for company on Racing Metro’s trip to Hong Kong. I’ve made a number of bullet points arising from the game in Dublin against South Africa. Make of them what you will. Jet lag can only explain away so much of the madness.

Why did Ireland win? Incredible defence and an unbelievable appetite to work for each other. Even though Johnny Sexton landed six out of six shots at goal, Ireland’s kicking game was average, but the outcomes were good, if you understand me. Willie Le Roux, on the other hand, had a couple of sublime moments, but too many indifferent ones. And some of his poorer moments were very poor. The full-back, Serfontein, Hougaard and Pollard all had poor games for the Springboks. When you have four of the backline out of sorts, it’s very hard to win any game. Joe Schmidt won’t need telling, Australia will be so much more competent with ball in hand tomorrow week at the Aviva. But Ireland were very clinical. And when your kicker makes six out of six, it’s going to be tough to beat us at the Aviva any time.