Eurosport - Tue, 23 Jun 21:19:00 2009
Ronan O'Gara wants his team to "make a statement" when he captains the British and Irish Lions at Newlands on Tuesday evening.
The Ireland fly-half and Grand Slam winner leads the tourists against a strong Emerging Springboks side. And with head coach Ian McGeechan not selecting the second Test team until tomorrow, O'Gara (pictured) is among those hoping to leave an impression.
"There are, I hope, some Test places to play for," he said.
He added: "Being realistic, I suppose it would be about four or five, and people are aware of it.
"The most important thing, though, is that we make a statement as a team and there will be certain individuals who may benefit, but who knows who those people are at this minute.
"Having said that, if we don't perform as a team then none of us have a chance.
"What I have learnt in my career is that the collective is far more important than the individual, but individuals do benefit as a result of the collective."
O'Gara becomes the Lions fifth skipper on tour - he follows Paul O'Connell, Brian O'Driscoll, Phil Vickery and Donncha O'Callaghan - and a strong individual display would certainly put pressure on current Test fly-half Stephen Jones.
"I've got to keep the pressure on Stephen, and that has to be the goal on Tuesday night for as long as I'm playing," he added.
"Of course, I want to run out on Saturday to start the Test, but now I have this to think about, this huge honour of captaining the Lions, so my focus is probably taken a bit from that. It's a huge bonus and a very big day for me."
Comment 1 - 13 of 13
suppose we stop the bickering and the nepotism with regard to home players. we are supposed to be lions fans followeres of the lions team and we should get behind them all - there are no irish,english,welsh or scots players - just lions! good luck to them today - heres hoping for a sterling performance.
then u have serious problems nheavy
sugrejames55, your my hero..
Good luck tonight boys
just wished to know from mr. sugruejames55 if he booed or cheered when croft scored or philips scored??, your a broken record & a narrow minded ***********wit, if you ever land in my country, please give me a call, i'd love to have a chat face to face with you, your an insult to your fellow irish, an insult to the celts & an even bigger insult to the spirit of the lions..
hope the boys play well today.. mon the lions
monye should have scored but the tackles that stopped him were both quality an the first kick that jones missed was very difficult, at least three of vickerys penalty's were kicked so he was a fault the most.
the_josh_hl So nothing to do with mistakes at finishing across the line by Monje,Powell etc. Nothing to do with Stephen Jones missed kicks. All down to one man. Good observasion. I and he agree he was left wanting but it's a bit harsh. I don't think he was one of the blokes who kept kicking it down Steyn's throat or throwing to the back of the line out. Get real.
ive been looking for the 'stuart barnes off-button' for years now mate with no luck unfortunately, its either mute the game and listen to the radio commentary or stomach the drivel
i think its all gonna depend on who de villiers picks for the test, if he sticks with the team he picked last week , the lions are gonna start well, finish well and win. but if he picks fourie from the start and roussow from the start, itll be more physical and their midfiled will actually be able to defend
prepare to see roberts or BOD marked out of the game like england did in the 6N with worsley and roberts... which wud be brilliant, coz thatll leave a hole for waltzing o'driscoll to burrow thru
sugruejames, did u know that tom croft is the first person to score 2 tries in alions test since the mighty jj williams in 1974? .... and hes english by the way.. just htought id tell ya that coz ur obviously lacking in the intelligence department
any chance u cud go spout ur racist drivel on the football forums or something? much obliged
o gara should be selected to start in the second test and vickery should not even be on the bench. Its his fault we lost the first test.
Please advise if it is possible to turn off the commentary on Sky Sports e.g. the lions matches.
I want to hear the crowd / ref etc but not the over oppionated ‘Expert’ who never played in a lions test side, who amassed 0 tries in a Lions shirt and scored less than 5 points per game at fly half. If i hear him use the phrase ‘going for the jugular’ or ‘solar plexus’ once more the Sky subscription goes. He has the ability to point out the bleeding obvious, no doubt beneficial for partially sighted viewers, but annoying to most. He obviously suffers from memory loss as he can’t remember how slow, poor, unsuccessful and predictable a fly half he was, but seems to be able to criticise anyone on the field for the slightest error.
sugruejames55, you are without doubt one of the biggest plonkers on here, change the record all you say is Englad are siht, drop them all etc, bore off no one wants to here that. I think if we can get the balance right up front on Saturday and don't kick the ball straight to Steyn and their back 3 we can really cause some problems. Plus the centre partnership of Roberts and BOD will strike fear into their backline, keep the ball in hand and try scoring opportunities will come. C'mon the Lions!!
all english players should be dropped for the next test..a bunch of fools
the lions are the king of the foodchain!
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