Having spent close to 13 seasons with the big man, for Munster, Ireland the Lions, Ronan O’Gara has perfected a bang-on impersonation.
You won’t find two greater legends of Munster and Irish rugby that Paulie and ROG.
Together, O’Connell and O’Gara led Munster to Heineken Cup glory and Ireland to their first Grand Slam in 61 years. Key members of a golden generation that had some hunks of silverware to back up the promise.
In offering a fascinating insight into why he believes Owen Farrell should be goal-kicking against the All Blacks in the upcoming Test Series [from 24:00], O’Gara offered up a great impersonation of his old teammate and friend.
O’Gara feels Farrell should be tasked with goal-kicking for the Lions against New Zealand. Leigh Halfpenny kicking the goals against the Maori All Blacks, this weekend, will “massively” tick Johnny Sexton off too.
Asked if he ever went into a game knowing he was not kicking the goals, O’Gara remarked:
“No, I wouldn’t let anyone else. That’s your bread and butter.”
He added: “It’s like a striker and he’s not allowed take the penalties [even] if he’s fouled in the box. There’s something missing. You just need that pressure.
“You have to put team first, obviously, but why do you make all the sacrifices? Why do you do all the kicking? It’s to get a shot at this.
“The great thing, you know in sport, is that you can sleep even if you fail. It’s not getting that shot. You just want to have that go. If you miss, everyone hates you but you don’t hate yourself as you had a crack off it. That’s the way I’d be going at it.
“You want to put yourself up at Eden Park, with everyone booing you. You’d say, ‘Oh yes, please give me this one’.”
O’Gara admitted that he might have been happy, early in his career, when captains opted to kick for touch instead of points. As his career grew, he craved the pressure. O’Gara added:
Warming to the topic, O’Gara added:
“It got to the stage where Paulie and Drico wouldn’t even ask me, and there were times where I was ratty and they pointed [to the posts] and Paulie would say, ‘You’re kicking this. You’re KICKING this!’
“There were times when you’d like an old discussion!”
ROG with a class impersonation of Paulie whenever there was a crucial penalty awarded! pic.twitter.com/3UY3J9nWmu
— Pat McCarry (@patmccarry) June 16, 2017
With O’Connell confidently proclaiming ‘Posts!’, you dare not let him down.
No pressure lad.
