what's happened to o'gara

dantes74

whatever abouth how much we miss o' driscoll or o'connell when they are not playing (and with good reason we do tend to lose when they're not playing) i do believe that o'gara is our main man, when he plays well we play well, he can certainly be the difference between winning and losing a game.
not sure what the stories in the french press were this week but he's certainly off his game.
we need him back 4 argentina game. we don't have a back up plan

Stev_o

Something tells me that those rumours could be true theres no other way i can think of to explain his fallen mental state. This is man has been under such equal pressure before and dealt with it.

Sadly though his form i have to say has been gone for a long time now. He never really came back to his prime during Munsters European Crusade you know he seemed to drop afterwards.

ongarite

He hasn't been the same since http://youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8iocVNUYg

jayteecork

He was never that good really to begin with - poor defence, goes to ground far too easy, inconcistent kicking game.
Whoever had the cheek to name him "the 2nd best no10 in the world after Dan Carter was having some laugh" - who was that anyway? Think it was O'Driscoll.

suppafly

I have to agree there. Some of the rumours most be true. He had a really awful game tonight. Was playing soo poorly. But what could we do. Not really any options to change for him though.

crosstownk

jayteecork wrote:

inconcistent kicking game.

That's certainly been the case in this RWC - but his performance in the 6N was close on exemplary.

Supercell

O'Gara was our playmaker..he just wasnt at the races at all tonight..or the previous two games.

Whatever about the rumours..O'Gara was bloody awful this WC and shouldn't have started tonight as clearly his head is someplace else.

Lets be honest here, that french team tonight were pretty bloody crap - spilling balls, conceding pentalties..France are going to be massacred by the AB's, O'Gara in the six nations would have ripped them to pieces..tonight he wimpered inside his mental hollow..just dont know whats going on in his head.
We lost as a result of EOS not seeing the obious.

EOS, we were woeful..you've blown Irelands best chance ever at a world cup.
This team could have done great things..its our best ever i firmly believe. EOS has made it into a shambles.

keystone

I agree.......he is NOT world class.

What has he led us to...a few Triple Crowns.......

He bottles it during the big games.........bring in Ian Humphreys or someone else.....lets blood them now!

Eddie 'The Muppet' O' Sullivan has finally gotten rid of Stringer aswell.......may Reddan and Boss fight for Scrum Half for the next 3-4 years.

Supercell

I hope someone has to fight for a position ...there is no fight in any of the fecking 15 tonight!!

As Ciaran Fitzgerald would say "where's your fúcking pride???"

star-pants

ongarite wrote:

He hasn't been the same since http://youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8iocVNUYg

Just looking at that -- didn't they claim he was being choked?
by the looks of it -- he got an elbow to the temple just before he went down (and out)

jayteecork

star-pants wrote:

Just looking at that -- didn't they claim he was being choked?
by the looks of it -- he got an elbow to the temple just before he went down (and out)

Another sign that Eddie isn't the full shilling - he was acussing the Scottish team of ATTEMPTED MURDER after the game.

dantes74

don't think o'gara is a crap player just that he's not on fire at the moment. he certainly has been the difference for munster and ireland between winning and losing games in the past. but even his team mates know there is something wrong and aren't even playing 4 penalties (we've only had 3 in wc so far).
the main problem is that we don't have any replacement 4 him and therefore no-one to put him under pressure 4 his place and that can breed complacency

thirdmantackle

where are all the good footballing no.10s in ireland gone to? nobody to even challenge O'Gara

i suppose it doesn't help when our provinces import foreigners to play for them

Zzippy

Lads I hate these rumours, and I know they're banned. But I was in the pub tonight with someone who was in college with a player's wife, lets just say its the player at the centre of these rumours, and I wasn't happy with what I heard.
We're pretty much out of the WC now, and from what I heard tonight there will be a couple of stories coming out afterwards...

Marty DiBergi

Galwayguy99 wrote:

Lads I hate these rumours, and I know they're banned. But I was in the pub tonight with someone who was in college with a player's wife, lets just say its the player at the centre of these rumours, and I wasn't happy with what I heard.
We're pretty much out of the WC now, and from what I heard tonight there will be a couple of stories coming out afterwards...

I don't really care about the rumours. Is it not EOS's job to ensure all his selections are mentally fit and ready to play? EOS knows ROG as well as anyone. If his form has gone through the floor (it happens with all players for whatever reason) then it's Eddie's responsibility to select someone else. The thinness of the squad is just an excuse. In fact its wrong on every level for EOS to select a player who's form has dropped way below par. ROG has done some wonderful things in the past. He has controlled many a game in a red and green jersey. I don't think it is coincidence that the media singled ROG out in the way that they have. When his kicking is on form he is a great asset. All in all EOS gets paid to have the team ready. His panel should be ready to allow for injuries and players freezing. I have a feeling the poor young Trimble will end up carrying this can for Eddie.

joenailface

In my opinion they should put in Paddy Wallace to start just to scare the **** out of O'Gara, at least we know that Wallace would put absolutly everything into the game. I have to agree with the person that said Trimble is going to be getting the wrap for this, which is a shame because imo he is one of the few players who has played half-decent in this WC...don't see why Eddie took out Hickey, at least he could kick the ball into touch, unlike O'Gara

EdgarAllenPoo

The Leinster/Ulster and Munster academy's must be a freakin joke if they haven't produced a half decent 10 at this stage. Wallace and Staunton are not the answer. Maybe bring someone up from the AIL with the sole intention of being the number two fly half because if O'Gara keeps playing like this he shouldn't (notice I didn't say won't) get selected.

jayteecork

I wish to **** O'Gara would stop those ****ing grubber kicks when we get into the oppenents' 22. I mean, even when he was on form they were a piece of ****. They always go straight into the opposition player's hands, and we lose vital possession

gilmour

Seriously, the moment the camera panned on O'Gara during Irelands Call was the moment i knew he was going to crumble and with it, our teams chances of winning tonight. He was to put it mildly, in bits. Absolutely drained, the look of a man with a million worries on his mind and most importantly struggling with the pressure of the situation that lay ahead, ie the biggest game of his career, instead of the normal look of steel focus that he used to wear (see the ireland/england emotional croke park national anthem youtube link and you will notice he didnt bat an eyelid) he looked like he was at a funeral of a loved one. It wasnt emotion, it was the pressure getting to him and it was sad to see.

He, EOS and BOD said he was bigger than the french journos, but at the end of the day the journos got to him big style, they nailed the most insecure player formwise in our team, and it turned out to be the KO punch.

k1elliott

I was at the game last night against France. Row 2. What an atmosphere. The Irish Fans were magnificent ! We were seriously let down by Ronan O'Gara.
Eddie, if you are reading, get him off for the next game. Stuff the critics, you did it to Stringer, now its ROG's turn. He was a downright disgrace !! How can the team face the fans after last night. At least the fans outplayed the French fans.

Junior

Ronan O'Gara has described allegations that he has had gambling and marital problems as "despicable".

In answer to reports that appeared in the French media on Wednesday, O'Gara denied he has accumulated large debts through betting on horse racing.

O'Gara, part of Ireland's struggling World Cup team, also rubbished rumours he has separated from his wife Jess.

"The most important thing is that people who know me realise there is no truth in these stories," said O'Gara.

The 30-year-old added: "It was difficult for a day or two after these stories came out.

"I'll be seeking advice to find out what is the best way for my wife and I to deal with the stories.

"The gambling affront doesn't bother me because I'll say it straight up - I do back horses and do it frequently.

"I own racehorses and have placed bets since I was 18.

"It was said in L'Equipe that I owed 300,000 euros. That's a load of nonsense."

The Munster and Lions fly-half said he was "disappointed" by the claim that he has a "troubled marriage".

"It's not for me to say I have a perfect marriage.

"Like everyone else little things happen but that's behind closed doors at home.

"I love my wife and she loves me, that's all I can say on the matter.

"There have been rumours about me going around for a year now. The only good thing is that it's all come out and has now been put to bed.

"It's been despicable. Talk about disputes in your marriage and being told you've been kicked out of your own home is the lowest of the low."

O'Gara made little impression during Friday night's 25-3 defeat by France but Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan denied the off-field distractions are affecting his form.

O'Sullivan said: "Ronan has coped very well with the pressure. People will look at his performance against France and probably point the finger at him.

"For Ronan to play in a good zone he needs a good flow of possession.

"One of our key sources of possession last night wasn't the best part of our game, so you have to factor that into his performance."


From Munsterfans...

getthegarglein

does o'sullivan have the cohonas to drop o'gara for the argintina match? if a guys not on form surely he should be dropped? thats not a ridiculous idea is it?

old boy

imo o gara carried a leg onto last nights game, going on to the pitch he semed to be fovouring it, also the tv shot of him going on to the train showed him to be carrieng the right leg, the power to be are the culprits, who do they offer as competition, paddy wallace, the leinster guy does not qualify, the guy from the west well dont ask for the moment,

getthegarglein

old boy wrote:

imo o gara carried a leg onto last nights game, going on to the pitch he semed to be fovouring it, also the tv shot of him going on to the train showed him to be carrieng the right leg, the power to be are the culprits, who do they offer as competition, paddy wallace, the leinster guy does not qualify, the guy from the west well dont ask for the moment,

so, are u saying let the failed continue? ur saying that the there's no point even comtemplating the thought of using the bench in that area, yeah? this is simply a question, dont think i'm attacking your comment, u may well be right... i just think we need to make big decisions... eg. drop ogara and darcy...

Tim Robbins

old boy wrote:

imo o gara carried a leg onto last nights game, going on to the pitch he semed to be fovouring it, also the tv shot of him going on to the train showed him to be carrieng the right leg, the power to be are the culprits, who do they offer as competition, paddy wallace, the leinster guy does not qualify, the guy from the west well dont ask for the moment,

I think Paddy Wallace, Jeremy Staunton, Barry Everit would have been better than what I have seen from O'Gara this tournement.

jayteecork

Tim Robbins wrote:

I think Paddy Wallace, Jeremy Staunton, Barry Everit would have been better than what I have seen from O'Gara this tournement.

The other two maybe, Jeremy Staunton, no fecking way. The guy is awful, awful, awful. In fact I can't believe how bad he is.

My father is into horses and reckons he always see O'Gara in the bookies - he'd be shouting profanities when he loses too.

razorblunt

It's a sad state of affairs when a player has to come out and refute those allegations but I suppose if you start whoring yourself out to the media they will inevitably start looking for more.

Wallace is worth a shot he's never played with the first choice forwards and backs, Barry Everitt is so far off International standard it's crazy, Staunton needs to work on his kicking more.

dats_right

k1elliott wrote:

I was at the game last night against France. Row 2. What an atmosphere. The Irish Fans were magnificent ! We were seriously let down by Ronan O'Gara.
Eddie, if you are reading, get him off for the next game. Stuff the critics, you did it to Stringer, now its ROG's turn. He was a downright disgrace !! How can the team face the fans after last night. At least the fans outplayed the French fans.

I too was at game and have just watched the full re-run of game on tv, I fully agree with above. I think the switch with Reddan worked, it's now time to drop the other one of the stooges and play Wallace. In fairness to ROG, he has been a good if not great player for Ireland but that does not justify him playing when he is clearly and severely lacking form (and it doesn't really matter what caused the lack of form)..

Zzippy

Watched the game again. Nearly every one of our kick offs went at least 10 yards too far, so the French back 3 had acres of space in which to clear the ball. Kicking to touch and for territory was appalling. ROG is in the worst form of his career, and fully deserves to be dropped. Unfortunately the lack of options at 10 means he won't be.

dudara

He's a great player when he's on his game, but he's always had a tendency to lose focus and bottle it. This flaw in his character means that he's not able to be a world class player. World class players don't fall apart easily.

BTW, there's no smoke without fire.

moe_sizlak

Stev_o wrote:

Something tells me that those rumours could be true theres no other way i can think of to explain his fallen mental state. This is man has been under such equal pressure before and dealt with it.

Sadly though his form i have to say has been gone for a long time now. He never really came back to his prime during Munsters European Crusade you know he seemed to drop afterwards.

well of course the rumours are true about o gara , were they not he could sue there ass , the amount mentioned is probably exagerated but to say its completeley intrue is naieve in the extreme , no smoke without fire en all

that he , the coach and all surrounding the team is denying such allegations is not only predictable but completely understandable
were they to say , its true then it would take the focus of the job in hand and on to the o gara gambling scandal

if EOS hadn't alienated Humphries, at least there would be a decent option for cover...

Jigsaw

glasso wrote:

if EOS hadn't alienated Humphries, at least there would be a decent option for cover...

I think to be fair that Humphries has his best days behind him. He was a great player but one strong tackle and he'd be fcuked I reckon. He only extended his Ulster contract because Wallace is away with the squad and McCall wanted him to stay on (obviously anticipating a lengthy Irish stay in the World Cup :eek: , otherwise he'd be retired by now, simple as that. That of course is no reason why Wallace couldn't be tried out. Fair enough, he is no Dan Carter but remember the game against the Pacific Islands recently. He performed great there. He deserves a chance I reckon.

Punchbowl

I watched the game again yesterday and was shocked at the amount of times O'Garas touchline kicks were caught and thrown quickly by the French. Their positioning was excellent. His kicking was a tad better than the two previous matches, but on the 3 or 4 times the above happened we lost any positional advantage. Still, he has to be axed for the next game.

Anyone agree with Franno's idea of BOD at out-half?

marco_polo

moe_sizlak wrote:

well of course the rumours are true about o gara , were they not he could sue there ass , the amount mentioned is probably exagerated but to say its completeley intrue is naieve in the extreme , no smoke without fire en all

that he , the coach and all surrounding the team is denying such allegations is not only predictable but completely understandable
were they to say , its true then it would take the focus of the job in hand and on to the o gara gambling scandal

This no smoke without fire attitude is just typical of Irish people and what has perpetuated this mess in the first place. All the “it’s probably not true but ...”, emails doing the rounds over the past week. Even if any of it were remotely true it is not a "scandal" it still his own private business.

Perhaps the reason that he failed to "sue there ass" :rolleyes: has something to do with the fact that French libel law is completely different to the Irish equivalent? But I am guessing that as basic spelling and punctuation is beyond your grasp, you have probably failed to consider this point.

tHE vAGGABOND

O'Gara has had total nightmare of a game on Friday, but it was better than some of his other games in this world cup tbh. Which tells its own story.

But we have no real backup. Our sub 10, Wallace, does not play there for Ulster, he plays first center for them. So only gets game time at 10 when he plays for Ireland [2 or 3 times over a couple of years!]. I remain to be convinced about him as a international 10 anyway tbh - he had one good game against a minnow, and nothing apart from that, which I have seen anyway.

Its one of O'Sullivans big issues, is that he has not developed backup talent at all at lots of positions..

I also think its *insane* to play BO'D, or anyone who has not played there, at 10. Out Half is a very technical and difficult position at international level, and just because you are good at one position, does not mean you will be good at another one. BO'D is 29, and has far to many bad habbits at this stage We need to get someone in his early/mid 20's and groom him for 4 years time IMHO.

jmayo

You can say that Wallace isn't good, but O'Gara's form is cr** at the moment and to say he is handling pressue is a joke. I suppose he may be handling it better than the ball :rolleyes:
O'Gara has always relied on his kicking game, he can't tackle and he will never make a scintilating run, but up to now at least he could kick.

Even if Wallace is not great, he should have been played during one of the other matches, but EOS will not make changes.
Jeeze if EOS was in charge of Scotland, he would have played his best 15 against NZ just to keep the score down, rather than see the bigger picture and rest players or challenge both the fringe players and starting regulars to step upto the mark.
Looking at current form, I think Munster are going to be worrying about halfback pairings for the coming matches.

MikeHoncho

Eddie should have got Geraghty before the English did. From all accounts the man considers himself Irish. Even played U-16's for Ireland. Just one of Eddies many failings as Ireland coach.

Diamondmaker

old boy wrote:

imo o gara carried a leg onto last nights game, going on to the pitch he semed to be fovouring it, also the tv shot of him going on to the train showed him to be carrieng the right leg, the power to be are the culprits, who do they offer as competition, paddy wallace, the leinster guy does not qualify, the guy from the west well dont ask for the moment,

ROG deffo was favouring one leg, I was in the 13th row behind them as they defended in the 1st half and the people arounud me deffo noticed an injury to him.

Aldini98

Someone should look at O'Connell never mind O'Gara. POC was disgracefully poor the other night.

MikeHoncho

Aldini98 wrote:

Someone should look at O'Connell never mind O'Gara. POC was disgracefully poor the other night.

He was dreadfull. And we still get all these Munster heads calling for him to be instated as captain. The man can't even organise our line out let alone the whole team.

marco_polo

MikeHoncho wrote:

Eddie should have got Geraghty before the English did. From all accounts the man considers himself Irish. Even played U-16's for Ireland. Just one of Eddies many failings as Ireland coach.

Well I'm sorry but that is just is complete crap. Shane Geraghty chose to play for England over Ireland.

Shane Geraghty on his selection for England:

"There was a big choice to be made, one that would shape the rest of my rugby career, so I sought advice from the people I respect. One of them was Mike Catt, an inspirational figure for me for as long as I can remember. He said: 'Look, you're very young. Young people want it all, and they want it now. But be patient, think it through very carefully and don't jump until you're sure.' I took his advice and chose England. I'm as certain as I can be that I've done the right thing."

subfreq

Except for Easterby the forwards were poor and the back line patterns are so flat it's hard to see how O'Gara could find a rhythm or play well at the moment.

EOS peaked the team 6 months too early.

moe_sizlak

the rumours about o gara are true but there are many other well known sports personalitys who i wont name in this country who are chronic gamblers aswell