O'Gara allays injury fears
by Michelle Fortune, 16 May 2008
Ronan O'Gara has played down fears that he could miss next weekend's Heineken Cup final in Cardiff by insisting he will be back in full training by Monday.
The Munster fly-half strained ligaments in his left ankle during his sides defeat to Glasgow Warriors last Saturday and while there were fears that he had chipped a bone, the Cork native is confident he will easily make the final against Toulouse.
"I got a scan on Sunday and the consultant wasn't able to read it until Monday morning. In the physio's eyes, everything looked alright, but he was fearful there might be a chip in the bone. There wasn't much sleep got on Sunday night," O'Gara explained.
"It has been a case of rehabbing it this week, testing it out. I have strained ligaments but I'd be pretty surprised if I wasn't fully functional by next Monday."
O'Gara, who was branded as over-rated and a bottler by former Leinster backs coach David Knox, has high hopes of Munster lifting the Heineken Cup for the second time in three years on Saturday week, but he admits that the Reds have struggled to re-capture the form that saw them defeat Wasps 19-3 at Thomond Park in January.
"I remember we had six [Heineken] games in nine weeks because of the World Cup year. And we had a serious bond at that stage," he told the Irish Mirror.
"We had momentum and weren't disrupted by internationals. I thought the level that we had against Wasps that night in Thomond was the best level - but we haven't reached that in the quarter-final and semi-final.
"That's the level we'll have to surpass to beat Toulouse.
"Our attitude was unbelievable about that time [January]. It was refusal to lose and we need to try to get back to that level and beyond it."
O'Gara was quick to point out the contribution Paul O'Connell has made since his return from injury and is hoping the lock can lead his team to glory in Wales.
"Paul has been exceptional. He's the fella who's driven on the most in the quarter-final and semi-final. He seems to be the one that's leading, so we need to combine as a unit.
"If you're negative about it, to get to four finals and win one, that would be hard to take. If you got to this final and win it, I think you'd be very proud of having achieved two wins in three years.
"But it will truly hurt the players if they don't - that has to be the motivation."