Monday, May 17, 2010
Jamie Heaslip flattens Ronan O'Gara in Magners League semi
There were a fair few talking points, but one of the most enjoyable moments for the Leinster fans, and most probably neutrals, was when Ronan OGara got absolutely smashed by powerful number eight Jamie Heaslip.
Heaslip had such a strong game that he was actually named Man of the Match, once again adding to his growing reputation as one of the best in his position in the world.
OGara on the other hand, his Ireland teammate that he smashed here, was recently named Europes beat player for the past 15 years of European rugby competition.
He claimed the award for ERC European Player Award after a panel of former players chose him. Those players included Sir Ian McGeechan, ex-internationals Lawrence Dallaglio, Ieuan Evans, Fabien Galthie, Donal Lenihan, Michael Lynagh and Stuart Barnes.
Whether OGara would be your choice or not, theres no debating the fact that he got well and truly smashed by Heaslip. There was another big incident and that was the Tomas O'Leary tackle on Cian Healey just before the tryline. If you'd like, I'll post that too for discussions sake.
Posted at 9:54 pm | 71 comments
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Viewing 71 comments
Marc May 17, 2010 9:24 pm

Anonymous May 17, 2010 9:25 pm

Dan May 17, 2010 9:30 pm

Anonymous May 17, 2010 9:39 pm

watched the lions dvd again the other day and i still couldnt believe how he managed to throw that 2nd test away.
deserves all he gets
Fin May 17, 2010 9:40 pm

Anonymous May 17, 2010 9:40 pm

Anonymous May 17, 2010 9:45 pm

AMAZING hit by Heaslip. They must have shown the reply 300 times after it happened. Great stuff
Anonymous May 17, 2010 9:48 pm

BAZINGA May 17, 2010 9:49 pm

FrankyH May 17, 2010 9:50 pm

Big charge!
'You're not getting on, the bus is full'. Beeeeaaauuuuty!
Richard King May 17, 2010 9:51 pm

I've watched replays of this steamrolling over 100 times, and it just continues to get better! ROG definitely needed his Lucozade Sport after that!
LEINSTER! LEINSTER! LEINSTER!
Abs7 May 17, 2010 10:15 pm

This guy is starting to make Sexton look like god with regards to defence at the moment.
good one May 17, 2010 10:26 pm

I'm usually a huge fan of ROG's (despite his god-awful tackling abilities), but why does it seem like he picks the shortest of the short shorts out of all the Munstermen (save Flannery, maybe)?
I would've liked to see Leinster get through to the HC finals since Munster didn't - Heaslip against Harinordoquy always has potential to be a good show. Oh well, I guess.
Tom May 17, 2010 10:45 pm

Fair played Leinster, Munster will not be the force they were with the blooding of new players but they have some good lads coming through. Average age of the squad v the Cornish Pirates was about 23.
Look ye cant blame ROG for the lions test ffs there were 15 men on the pitch that day so give over, he wasnt the only player who missed tackles in the lead up to the try that won it for the saffs.
Connacht fan
PS - Any highlights of the game RD?
Clinomaniac May 17, 2010 10:47 pm

Big hit!
Anonymous May 17, 2010 10:48 pm

Tim May 17, 2010 10:49 pm

How many times have we seen him end up on his arse after trying to make a tackle?
DanWalsh May 17, 2010 10:54 pm

BOD May 17, 2010 11:07 pm

BTW Heaslip - SHAKE AND BAKE BABY!!!
robbo May 17, 2010 11:13 pm

mise May 17, 2010 11:22 pm

He may have been (one of) the best out halfs in Europe over the last 10 years, but in club rugby in Europe, he hasn't shone to the same extent.
On Heaslip: big fan, and e had an incredible game, but Harinordoquy is still the best in Europe in that position.
mise May 17, 2010 11:24 pm

I'm referring to Wilkinson's relative anonymity in club rugby as facilitating O Gara's selection as best #10
Anonymous May 17, 2010 11:42 pm

This year Harinordoquy has been the best in Europe without a doubt, but it's too early to call long term who's better
Anonymous May 17, 2010 11:48 pm

I often mistake Heaslip for a prop, not really a proper "athlete" more of a bully boy.
(u-p)rick May 17, 2010 11:54 pm

You guys should take a look at this, its an eye gouge, VVVV nasty!!!
lol, "O'gara's always going to lose out".... you said it....
now come on, heaslip vs ROG...who didnt see that happening?
View Video
Joost May 18, 2010 1:29 am

ROG is making it easy for Kidney to pick the most complete and aggressive 10 in Ireland. An SEXton is on Fire!
jpm May 18, 2010 1:34 am

Greiffel May 18, 2010 8:30 am

Once again, anything deemed to be against the site's commenting guidelines will be removed. Thanks
james May 18, 2010 8:47 am

With regard to the childish abuse each side throws at us I do think were as bad as each other, although at the Heineken Cup final last year the Munster fans left themselves down very badly with their abusive anti-Leinster support and refusal to sell their tickets to Leinster fans. I was told by one fan that I was 'wearing the wrong jersey and should still be in the red of Munster, because they are Ireland's only team'. Boo-urns.
I think its time be all calmed down a bit, enjoyed the action the way the players do by getting on with it on the pitch with high tempo, high aggression rugby but shaking hands at the end and moving on. Nexy year, as always, I hope the best team wins.
Mike May 18, 2010 10:27 am

Re. the rivalry - you always get pricks supporting every team/province/club/nation. You shouldn't shrug and say 'Saffa/Leinster/Stade/whatever fans are pricks', you should say 'pricks are everywhere, even supporting MY team, and I hate pricks'.
Re. the guy who claims that Heaslip is not an athlete, but is like a prop - did you see his try against France last year? And all the tries he has scored for Leinster in the last couple of years?
Anonymous May 18, 2010 10:32 am

Mike May 18, 2010 11:00 am

It is bizarre how you can be so good at 90% of the game, including the really difficult stuff, and be so bad at the 10% that is the easiest to do. But as I said, I admire the guy's guts, he keeps getting flattened and he keeps getting up.
Anonymous May 18, 2010 11:16 am

haha think it was for skysports last year!
cp85 May 18, 2010 11:42 am

watched the lions dvd again the other day and i still couldnt believe how he managed to throw that 2nd test away. deserves all he gets'
- haha, did exactly the same.
The Inside Shoulder May 18, 2010 11:45 am

Every team he plays against must have a "ROG call" where they send a big man straight down his channel.
It's a viscious circle as well because now he's got this reputation whenever anybody looks up and sees him they try extra hard to knock him down.
Anonymous May 18, 2010 12:19 pm

sebastian May 18, 2010 12:35 pm

Dan May 18, 2010 1:16 pm

Flooz May 18, 2010 1:24 pm

and sorry to say that, enjoyable to see that on o'gara.
As he was named, "best player of erc history" it's a good recall to describe how he was bad in defence or in the game animation.
He was just the right No10 to kick the penalties conquered by a fabulous munster pack.
But munster titles speak for him as Wilkinson, Jason robinson or Galthie chosed to stay in their "family" clubs of newcastle, sale or colomiers
Anonymous May 18, 2010 2:38 pm

Darren May 18, 2010 3:13 pm

Anonymous May 18, 2010 3:28 pm

PK May 18, 2010 5:19 pm

Let's stop all this bickering between regions, it distracts from the rugby - the players all shook hands after that match so let that be the end of it.
mise May 18, 2010 8:14 pm

And its now Ireland need to focus on, not the fact that this time last year Sexton's kicking was good.
Sexton _was_ the challenger, now he's all Ireland have as an alternative (unless Kearney starts kicking seriously, and takes the job off sexton).
Good overall player, but we do need a kicker.
Anonymous May 18, 2010 8:27 pm

Definitley worth putting up O'Leary's tackle on Cian Healy though
MCB May 18, 2010 9:11 pm

People, especially his critics, seem happy to ignore the fact that the man is the best tactical kicker in the game, reads it very well, has a good distribution and is one of the best pressure kickers in the world.
Everyone knows he's a very poor defender but he's still one of the best outhalves of the last decade. Was a great hit by heaslip, even any other outhalf wud have found it difficult to have put him down there.
Jimmy May 18, 2010 10:49 pm

He's lucky he plays in the NH, he'd never cut it as a five eight down south.
Anonymous May 18, 2010 10:55 pm

Anonymous May 19, 2010 4:22 am

im australian btw not south african but jamie heaslip on form is nowhere near as good as pierre spies is on form.
Anonymous May 19, 2010 6:18 am

Anonymous May 19, 2010 8:05 am

Mike May 19, 2010 8:52 am

im australian btw not south african but jamie heaslip on form is nowhere near as good as pierre spies is on form.
Another stupid comment. If you actually read back over what has been said and count how many say that O'Gara gets run over all the time and how many say that Heaslip was like Superman to run over him, you will find that 95% of the comments are critical of O'Gara, with a little passing praise of Heaslip.
Also, if you had actually watched the game, you would have seen that Heaslip dragged Leinster to victory in the second half, much like the brilliant Rocky Elsom did several times last year. I hate when folks criticise players they have not watched - I don't see as much SH rugby as I would like, so I never comment on SH players - I can't judge how good they are based on one or two games or 30 seconds of highlights on RD.
Anonymous May 19, 2010 11:54 am

Its a shame RD is so open to trolls....
jules May 19, 2010 2:30 pm

Whitearrow May 19, 2010 3:53 pm

Anonymous May 19, 2010 9:25 pm

there are a lot of nae-sayers out there and in reality O'Gara is not 'that' bad, just in his defence he always seems to be wrong place wrong time!!!
Tom May 20, 2010 12:18 am

He'd never be considered good enough to play for South Africa, New Zealand or Australia, not in a million years.
He' lucky he plays in Europe, where a kicking game gets you by.
Anonymous May 20, 2010 8:44 am

Whitearrow May 20, 2010 10:24 am

Anonymous May 20, 2010 1:01 pm

...just as certain 10's from the SH couldnt step into a NH side...
Anonymous May 20, 2010 6:50 pm

Great hit, poor tackle (as usual from ROG) C'mon Ireland.
Les Bleus May 20, 2010 7:18 pm

Ronan O'gara can kick yes, he doesn't defend well because he doesn't need to defend well, he has an extremely good pack, so they need someone with a big boot.
NH, it is wet, so it is better to play for territory and use the forwards where as SH is dry so you go through the hands out wide because it is easier.
Of course NH players play well in the SH and SH players play well in the NH. This mentality is bullshit, you are not superior because you are from New Zealand and the All Blacks are the best team in the world. You are just a player, unless you are from the All Blacks, you have no bragging rights as you have no involvement in the All Blacks / Springboks / Wallabies.
I have no bragging rights about the French rugby team, they are French which is all I have in common with them, I don't play for the French rugby team. We didn't beat the Springboks in 2009, the French rugby team did.
Stop confusing yourself with an international professional rugby team, you are not part of that setup, you are a fan which doesn't give you any rights to superiority.
(u-p)rick May 20, 2010 8:16 pm

*thumbs up*
Tom May 20, 2010 11:23 pm

But as you said I'm a fan of rugby, and most fans of sports will weigh up the merits of different players. You do it.
In my opinion, O'Gara is not a very good fly half. He can't run the ball, his passing isn't much to write home about and his defence is a liability, so he's very limited.
i can't understand how he could be considered one of the greatest players in Europe in the last ten years, with just a kicking game.
Mr Twon (UK) June 10, 2010 12:39 pm

although ronan is a good player! its lovely to see him get knocked about! :D















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