Monday, February 1, 2010

Ronan O'Gara Ireland Player


Ronan John Ross O'Gara (born 7 March 1977 in San Diego, California) is an Irish rugby union rugby player, occupying the fly-half position for both Munster and Ireland. He is the highest point scorer in both Munster and Irish history and has played for, and captained, the British and Irish Lions.

He was selected for his first Irish International cap in the Six Nations Championship against Scotland in February 2000. O'Gara scored all of Ireland's goals in their 18-9 win over Australia at Lansdowne Road in the Autumn Tests of 2002. He was a member of Ireland's 2003 Rugby World Cup squad.

O'Gara scored all of Ireland's points in a 17-12 win over the South Africa Springboks at Lansdowne Road on 13 November 2004. Two weeks later, on 27 November, O'Gara kicked a last-minute drop goal to give Ireland a 21-19 victory over Argentina. As in the Springboks Test, O'Gara scored all of Ireland's points. O'Gara won the man-of-the-match awards against both South Africa and Argentina. In 2004, he was named RTE Sports Person of the Year.

In 2006 O'Gara overtook David Humphreys as Ireland's highest points scorer. The same season, he won the Triple Crown with Ireland in the Six Nations.

On 11 February 2007, O'Gara scored the first Irish international try at Croke Park in the Six Nations loss to France. On 10 March 2007, O'Gara once again scored all of Ireland's points to win the Triple Crown at Murrayfield, Edinburgh versus Scotland by 19-18. On 24 August 2007, in Ireland's final 2007 Rugby World Cup warm-up against Italy at Ravenhill in Belfast, O'Gara scored and converted a controversial try nine minutes into stoppage time, winning the match 23-20 after Italy had taken the lead with a stoppage-time try. O'Gara finished the match with 18 points. He was a member of Ireland's 2007 Rugby World Cup squad.

On 9 February 2008, O'Gara became the eighth player in history to score 800 Test points, reaching the mark in Ireland's loss to France in the Six Nations. On 11 March 2008, O'Gara was named as Ireland team captain for the first time in his career, leading the side in the Six Nations match against England at Twickenham.

On 14 March 2009 O'Gara overtook Johnny Wilkinson to become the top Six-nations point scorer ever. In 2009, he scored a late drop goal to beat Wales and win Ireland their first Grand Slam for 61 years. This was also O'Gara's fourth Triple Crown win.

O'Gara is also the sixth highest points scorer in the history of international rugby and on March 14, 2009 became the all-time highest scorer in the Six Nations, scoring from a penalty against Scotland in the 15-22 win at Murrayfield Stadium.. He currently holds a total of 499 points.



Ireland V Italy Hospitality

England V Wales Hospitality

Scotland V England Hospitality

France V Italy Hospitality

Six Nations Hospitality

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