Ronan O’Gara discussed how touring with England legend Jonny Wilkinson accelerated his game.
O’Gara went on three Lions tours throughout his career but credited his first tour in 2001 as being a defining moment in his callow career, as he “watched a master at his work.”
Speaking on Off The Ball’s Wednesday Night Rugby, O’Gara discussed how training with Wilkinson heightened his drive to improve his own game.
“He was at a different level. That was the eye-opener to accelerate my career.
“You ask him to do left foot spirals, right foot spirals, he’d put an exhibition on every time.”
Ronan O'Gara
“It redefined what work rate was, appetite for perfection. Especially what happened in Twickenham with missing those kicks, you think you have a technique that’s good but not bulletproof", O'Gara said.
Although the then young O’Gara was enamoured by how Wilkinson trained, he said he did not fully concur with Wilkinson’s methods.
“There’d be other parts I wouldn’t agree with in his approach, where everything is methodical. In the kicking game, in a phase game especially, you don’t know if you have 0.3 seconds or 3 seconds to kick a ball.”
O’Gara admitted that kicking sessions with Wilkinson were draining; he said there was nothing else he would rather do.
“To have that career he’s had, there’s that obsessive nature in him.”
“We were kicking at 7:30 to 8:30am, then after the pitch session from 12:30pm to 1:30pm, then from about 6 to 7 at night. It sounds grim to most people, but I absolutely loved it", O'Gara said.
O’Gara concluded that he had an amicable relationship with his English counterpart and that Wilkinson once picked his brain for advice.
“It was a very friendly relationship when we’d meet after England and Ireland games. I remember he was looking for potential manipulation of his game, which I suppose is a compliment.”
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