Declan Kidney, to borrow a bad poker analogy, has gone all in for the Scotland match, putting his faith in the unproven Paddy Jackson over the clearly-flagging Ronan O'Gara (to extend the bad poker analogy, Jackson is like being dealt a King-3 while O'Gara is a pocket pair of 6s). We had Mick McCarthy write an unbiased take on why ROG should start yesterday, but the Indo have taken ROG-love to Wagnerian heights in today's paper. An unbylined writer (online anyway) who is 99% likely to be Conor George clearly disagrees with Kidney and put his heart and soul into a stirring tribute to the legendary Ireland outhalf in today's paper. It's like something out of Homer.
Here are some of our favourite lines. Read them aloud, preferably in reverential tones with pounding drums in the background:
He will take his place on the bench, he will study the game with the deep devotion of a JRR Tolkien fan devouring a newly discovered tome depicting life in Middle Earth.
O'Gara's career is punctuated with stirring deeds and extraordinary achievements.
Time and again he has shown himself the ultimate professional, ice-cold in the most exacting of situations.
You cannot expect to earn 127 international caps, score 1,083 points in a green shirt, win four Triple Crowns, a Grand Slam, two Heineken Cups and be the undisputed most valuable player over 15 years of European club competition and not be a player of immense ability and iron will.
Not a mention of his huge decline in form in the last 12 months, the kicks missed on Saturday, the kick missed Sunday week or the kicks to touch that afternoon.
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