He dodged the question once but it wasn’t going to happen a second time.
Ronan O’Gara is never shy in sharing his thoughts on the game of rugby, on or off the pitch, so it came as somewhat of a surprise that he avoided answering a question about the dirtiest player he had ever faced. Instead, on SportsJOE Live, O’Gara waxed lyrical about how Peter Clohessy was so crafty.
On the latest episode of The Hard Yards rugby podcast [listen below from 0:30] O’Gara was not allowed leave the studio without giving an answer.
https://soundcloud.com/thehardyardssportsjoe/episode-8-six-nations-winners-and-losers-irish-lions-and-dirtiest-opponents
He did not name Lions Tour 2001 aggressor Duncan McRae and instead chose a former Leinster and Scotland second row. O’Gara said:
“I still have a lack of feeling in the right side of my right knee. Nathan Hines caught me with an absolute beaut of a stamp in Musgrave Park. I’ll never forget it – the timing, precision and the capacity of what he did that day, and it’s over 10 years ago.
“I was on the ground and he somehow managed to get a running sort of stamp, right into the knee where you sort of lose power. And the kicking leg too. All calculated, without a shadow of a doubt. Oh he got me an absolute beaut.
“Sometimes you’ve got to take your beating, you know.”
O’Gara’s views on Hines are matched by Kevin McLaughlin, who played with him at Leinster and against him when Hines moved to Clermont. He laughingly recalled the occasion a riled up Johnny Sexton chased Hines all over the pitch having been sufficiently wound up.
There is another player that stands out in McLaughlin’s mind when it comes to dirtiest player. He said:
“The Biarritz second row with the beard and shaved head – Eric Lund. I made the mistake of taking him on in a game… He went to tackle someone from pillar and I gave his jersey a little nudge and pulled him back a bit.
“He turned around, smiled, winked at me and elbowed me square in the nose; he broke my nose.
“It was the last time I took on the Viking and I never will again. I didn’t do a Johnny and chase him around the park but I didn’t shake his hand at the end of the game… so I won!”
Paddy Wallace also told a superb story about a former Ulster teammate of his, flying elbows and policemen knocking at his door one morning. The chat begins at 3:20 and it is well worth a listen.
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