O’Connell hails ROG’s “will to fight”

Munster second row Paul O’Connell has joined in the chorus of praise for fly-half Ronan for the cool head he showed to slot a last-ditch drop goal to beat Northampton 23-21 in Thomond Park on Saturday.

Trailing 20-21 when the clock entered the red, Munster managed to maintain a staggering 41 phases before setting the platform for O’Gara to snatch a dramatic victory.

With Munster’s squad wearing thinner than previous seasons, O’Connell knows just how vital that home victory was.

“We’ve a lot of injuries at the moment and we’re in a small bit of transition as well,” he admitted. “I think it was the first time we haven’t had either Wally (David Wallace), Axel (Anthony Foley) or Quinny (Alan Quinlan) playing for us for 16 years in the backrow in the Heineken Cup so I think for the young guys to come through and be as dogged as they were and win a dog fight like that, albeit we made a lot of mistakes, I would be very proud.

“I think today was a great win for us. We’ll look at a lot of things on the video and there’s an awful lot of work to do between now and the Castres game, but I think today was a real dogged kind of Cup win.

O’Connell believes O’Gara’s will to take responsibility in big moments sets him apart from others who have been in the game for so long.

“If Rog could orchestrate every game to be like that, that’s the way he’d want them to end and I don’t know does every outhalf always want that. It’s just a lovely feeling to have a guy who wants that position in every game.

“It’s an example to everyone to have a guy that’s there that long and who is as hungry as ever and willing to fight as much as ever. I think a lot of players don’t lose their skill level, they don’t lose their fitness, they don’t lose their speed, but I think guys lose that will to fight, and Rog has that in abundance.”