Ronan O'Gara has been urged to rethink his plans to retire from international rugby after the World Cup, with the Ireland management suggesting there could be room for both the veteran fly-half and Jonathan Sexton in the team.
After Ireland's victory over Australia on Saturday, O'Gara hinted that he may quit the top level following the tournament in New Zealand, but Ireland's team manager, Paul McNaughton, admitted it had come as a surprise. "I haven't talked to him about it. I don't exactly where he was coming from, whether it was the emotion of this being his last World Cup. He's on a contract with the IRFU and I'll get to talk to him in the next few days," he said.
O'Gara is contracted to the IRFU up until the end of season 2012‑13, but Declan Kidney has gone for Sexton at No10 during the Six Nations and in Ireland's two starts in this World Cup. The assistant coach Alan Gaffney said he hoped O'Gara's comments were made in the heat of the moment after the historic 15–6 win over the Wallabies, in which he came on – with Sexton moving to centre – and kicked two penalties.
"I sincerely hope so. I love Rog and I have for many, many years, and I think what he brings to the party and what he brings to the table is something special. It's a great contest between him and Jonny at the present time, and it's not laid down in stone who's going to start.
"Every time Ronan has gone out in recent times and played, he's performed – whether he's started or come off the bench. And I think the fact that he and Jonny have worked extremely well together, they've got an enormous amount of respect for each other. I'd hate to see Rog retire from international rugby because I think he's got a lot to offer."
Asked about the possibility of them working together as a No10‑12 combination, as they did in the last half hour against Australia, and for the last quarter of the warm-up game against France in August, Gaffney said: "Well, although Sexto doesn't want to hear it every time I talk to him about it, I think Sexto has got all the attributes for a good 12.
"He's an excellent defender – there's no doubt about that. He's one of the better defenders in the team: he's very, very good at it. He prefers to play 10 and he's a world-class 10, but they're both world-class players and trying to get them both into the team is a difficult challenge."
"But then again Darce [Gordon D'Arcy] has just needed more time and the more time Darce plays, as we all know, he gets better with time. He only had the one game in August and the game against the States – a pity he came off on Saturday but I think moving Jonny to 12 and Rog to 10 definitely didn't hurt."
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