Ireland
O'Gara won a cap for Ireland A on 9 April 1999, against Italy A during a friendly.
He was selected in Ireland's preliminary training squad for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, but was not chosen to go to the tournament, with the Irish management deciding to take two fly-halves and an extra prop instead of three fly-halves. O'Gara was in the Munster team that beat Ireland in a warm-up for the tournament.
He won his first international cap for Ireland against Scotland on 19 February 2000 during the 2000 Six Nations Championship. O'Gara scored all of Ireland's points in their 18–9 win over Australia at Lansdowne Road in the Autumn Tests of 2002. He was a member of Ireland's 2003 Rugby World Cup squad, and played in all four Pool matches against Romania, Namibia, Argentina and Australia, and in the quarter-final against France. In total, O'Gara scored 30 points during his first Rugby World Cup.
O'Gara scored all of Ireland's points in a 17–12 win over South Africa at Lansdowne Road on 13 November 2004. Two weeks later, on 27 November, O'Gara kicked a last-minute drop goal to give Ireland a 21–19 victory over Argentina. O'Gara won the Man-of-the-Match awards against both South Africa and Argentina. In 2004, he was named RTE Sports Person of the Year.
In 2006, O'Gara overtook David Humphreys as Ireland's highest points scorer. In the same season, he won the Triple Crown with Ireland in the 2006 Six Nations Championship.
On 11 February 2007, O'Gara scored the first Irish international try at Croke Park in the 2007 Six Nations Championship loss to France. On 10 March 2007, O'Gara once again scored all of Ireland's points to win the Triple Crown at Murrayfield, Edinburgh, beating Scotland 19–18. On 24 August 2007, in Ireland's final 2007 Rugby World Cup warm-up against Italy at Ravenhill in Belfast, O'Gara scored and converted a controversial try nine minutes into stoppage time, winning the match 23–20 after Italy had taken the lead with their own stoppage-time try. O'Gara finished the match with 18 points.
O'Gara was a member of Ireland's 2007 Rugby World Cup squad. He started all four of Ireland's pool games, against Namibia, Georgia, France and Argentina, scoring 19 points in total.
On 9 February 2008, O'Gara became the eighth player in history to score 800 Test points, reaching the mark in Ireland's loss to France in the 2008 Six Nations Championship. On 11 March 2008, O'Gara was named as Ireland team captain for the first time in his career, leading the side in the Six Nations match against England at Twickenham.
On 14 March 2009, O'Gara overtook Johnny Wilkinson to become the top Six Nations point scorer ever. On 20 March 2009, he scored a late drop goal to beat Wales and secure for Ireland their first Grand Slam for 61 years. This was also O'Gara's fourth Triple Crown win.
O'Gara started against Australia in the first match of Ireland's 2009 November Series, scoring 10 points. He then lost his place in the starting line-up to Jonathan Sexton and did not play against Fiji or South Africa. O'Gara played poorly during the first 3 months of the 2009/10 season, but rediscovered his form in Munster's game against USA Perpignan in December. His return to form saw him regain the fly-half spot in Ireland's opening 2010 Six Nations Championship game against Italy and against France, but he was placed back on the bench for the remaining three games. He had a 100% kicking record for the 2010 Six Nations. O'Gara was selected in Ireland's squad for their 2010 Summer Tour to New Zealand and Australia. He captained Ireland in the non-cap match against the Barbarians, a game which Ireland lost 23–29 at Thomond Park. He started against New Zealand and converted 3 tries. He did not play against New Zealand Maori and was on the bench for the Australia test.
O'Gara became the third Irishman to win 100 caps when he came off the bench during Ireland's first 2010 Autumn Series test against South Africa. He started against Samoa and scored 15 points, including a try. He came off the bench against New Zealand and Argentina. He came off the bench against Italy and France in the 2011 Six Nations Championship, and started against Scotland, winning the Man of the Match award in a flawless display. He started against Wales and became the first Irishman to score over 1,000 points in international matches. He came off the bench against England, and his tactical kicking ensured any chance of an England comeback was stopped, preventing them from winning a Grand Slam.
O'Gara was selected in Ireland's squad for the 2011 World Cup warm-ups in August. He was also selected in Ireland's final 30-man squad to travel to New Zealand for the World Cup. He played in all of Ireland's 2011 Rugby World Cup Pool C games, coming of the bench against US Eagles and Australia, and starting against Russia. In the Russia game, he became Ireland's highest points scorer in World Cup matches. He was selected ahead of Jonathan Sexton for Ireland's crunch Pool C game against Italy, and scored 16 points as Ireland won 36-6. He retained the fly-half jersey for Ireland's quarter final against Wales, scoring a penalty and a conversion as Ireland lost 22-10.
In an interview after Ireland's historic 15-6 World Cup victory over Australia on 17 September 2011, O'Gara hinted at his possible retirement from international rugby after the conclusion of Ireland's World Cup, but subsequently said that his words had been misinterpreted.
O'Gara was selected in Ireland's 24-man squad for the 2012 Six Nations Championship. He joined Brian O'Driscoll as Ireland's all-time caps leader (with 117) when he came on against Wales on 5 February 2012, during Ireland's opening 2012 Six Nations match. He also became the most capped player in Five/Six Nations history in this game, overtaking fellow Irishman Mike Gibson's record of 56. O'Gara became Ireland's most capped player ever against Italy on 25 February 2012, overtaking Brian O'Driscoll's record. He made substitution appearances in all 5 of Ireland's 2012 Six Nations fixtures. O'Gara described his 2012 Six Nations as 'gut-wrenching'.
He came on as a replacement in all three of Ireland's tests against New Zealand in the 2012 tour.O'Gara won his 125th cap for Ireland on 10 November 2012, as a replacement against South Africa. He also came on against Argentina on 24th November 2012.
He has scored several significant dropped goals for Ireland, including the match winner in the 78th minute of the Wales vs Ireland match in the 2009 Six Nations Championship to secure the Grand Slam, and in the 78th minute of the Italy vs Ireland match in the 2011 Six Nations Championship, which ensured Ireland avoided a first defeat to Italy in the Six Nations.
O'Gara is also the fourth highest points scorer in the history of International Rugby Union.
Read more about this topic: Ronan O'Gara
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