THAT moment: Ronan O'Gara upends Fourie du Preez
Ronan O'Gara might have good reason to be grateful to Schalk Burger, Bakkies Botha and Peter de Villiers, for their madness outweighed his.
But while Burger was outraging all who watched with his disgraceful scrabbling at Luke Fitzgerald's eyes, while Botha was flinging himself headfirst at Adam Jones and while De Villiers was making his puerile defences and rants, O'Gara's mad moment that ultimately cost the Lions their chances in the series went largely uncommented on.
In the final minute of the game, O'Gara caught a kick in his own 22. He had a choice: kick the ball out and settle for a draw that would have given the Lions the chance to tie the series in the third Test, or go for the glory and win the match - giving the Lions the chance to win in the third Test.
The latter was the high-risk option. But O'Gara backed himself, as he has done time and again in his career, beckoned Tommy Bowe to chase with him, and launched a huge up and under.
Fourie du Preez waited under it, the jumped to catch, while the onrushing O'Gara ploughed into Du Preez in mid-air and gave Morne Steyn the climactic kick. The rest, as they say, is history.
Sympathy does abound for O'Gara, who had clearly been concussed by collisions with Pierre Spies and a try-scoring Jaque Fourie and not entirely thinking straight at the time, but the incident may not be forgotten in Lions lore for a few tours yet and, sadly, it was O'Gara's last meaningful action in a Lions jersey.
"I've spoken about it," he said in the Irish Times on Monday.
"I got knocked out [by Spies] and I tried to get back into the defensive line and missed a tackle . . . I was aware of Shaun Edwards [Lions assistant coach] in my ear going 'are you badly hurt, get back off the ground'.
"That's exactly what I was trying to do. I wasn't really badly hurt. I was knocked out and didn't really know what I was doing. I can't recall the incident . . . I was knocked out. I just remember trying to throw myself at Fourie and I couldn't see him properly, you know. So I missed him [Fourie].
"Under the posts I kind of had a little time to get myself together. I remember calling [Tommy Bowe] . . . to kick that ball, chase that ball and I remember that.
"But that [decision] doesn't cost me a second thought because I'd do the exact same tomorrow. People ask me, 'would you not kick it out' but it never entered my head to kick the ball out. I couldn't see what a draw would do for anyone."
He also still believes that the call to penalise him for the charge on Du Preez was a 50-50 one, despite the current stringency on mid-air tackles when a player is catching the ball.
"Some referees would give it. Some referees wouldn't," he said.
"The way I look at it you want the win. I kick a contestable garryowen and maybe we'd retain possession, score the other end of the pitch if we could put ourselves in possession and score a drop goal. That's the way my mind works anyway."
O'Gara has been away for a month in Spain to aid the healing process, not only from that incident but also from the disappointment of not being selected for the Test team - and not getting on in the first Test when things looked to be going seriously awry for the Lions.
"I was sitting in the meeting fully expecting to be selected. I thought I was in pole position. When it was announced it was a big blow," he said.
"I did expect to come on at half-time in the first Test, but that didn't happen. With 15 minutes to go it didn't happen. I was saying, I'm seeing this game differently from everybody else. I just got back to my room and thought 'I don't think I'm in with a shout here'.
"They talk about combinations. I don't believe for one moment it was about combinations. I'd have no problem playing with Mike Phillips.
"Maybe this management had their minds made up that they wanted Stephen. The game didn't go well for him in the first Test but they picked him again. I'd set targets, I was happy with the form and I was playing really well.
"Obviously now people will remember my tour for the incidents in the second Test.
"I thought it was a great opportunity to win a Test series. I felt we left the Test series behind. I find that hard to take and the fact that I didn't have much to do with it."
But as with the fall-out from World Cup 2007, O'Gara will bounce back - next up is another Heineken Cup campaign with Munster.
