Former Ireland international confirms Ronan O’Gara was the ultimate team player

Professional through and through...

Ronan O'Gara has been getting a bit of stick over the past few days, especially in the Scottish media over his comments prior to Ireland's game against Scotland on Saturday.

O’Gara told RTÉ before kick-off: “I hope Ireland hammer Scotland today for the way they behaved in the week.

“Too mouthy, they can’t back it up. I was brought up with a mentality that you work hard and talk about it afterwards.”

We all know how that one turned out... Joining host Andy McGeady for episode one of SportsJOE's new rugby podcast, The Hard Yards, were former Ireland internationals Donncha O'Callaghan and Kevin McLaughlin and SportsJOE's rugby correspondent Pat McCarry. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/828879222236147712 They broke down Ireland's loss to Scotland and went into detail on some of the dark arts that happen at the bottom of rucks in professional rugby. Kevin McLaughlin played for Leinster and Ireland throughout a successful career and knows first hand what goes on during Ireland's training camps in Carton House. As the discussion turned to man management and more particularly, keeping high profile players happy with spots on the bench, McLaughlin revealed how Ronan O'Gara reacted when he lost his spot in the Ireland team to Jonathan Sexton. Pat McCarry: "O'Gara was saying that he hated [being a sub] but it's something he seemed to buy into by the end of his career." Kevin McLaughlin: "ROG is a great example. I've been a tackling bag in Carton House loads and loads of times unfortunately because either on the bench or on the fringes more often or not for Ireland over the course of my career. "I was there when Sexton overtook ROG. He was amazing to play with on the opposition team. He actually inspired me, and got the most out of me. "That must have been very mentally challenging for him. But ROG is obviously a very strong character to be able to do that."