Thursday, February 09, 2012
Ask the question as to what Ronan O’Gara and Mike Ross have in common and the instinctive answer would probably be not a lot, apart from the fact that they are both members of Declan Kidney’s Ireland squad.
One is an out-half, the other a prop — two rugby players separated by a veritable Grand Canyon of size and skill sets — but O’Gara and Ross share the distinction of being the only two members of this year’s Six Nations squad to have won at the Stade de France.
O’Gara’s winning memories come from his very first visit to Saint-Denis, back in March 2000 when (the currently injured) Brian O’Driscoll scored his famous hat-trick, but he has been back six times since and come away beaten every one.
Ross? Well, he was quick to point out yesterday that he has a 100% success ratio at the venue, though he doesn’t shy away from the fact that he has played there just the once and, unfortunately, it wasn’t as part of an Irish team.
It was just over three years ago when Ross and Harlequins made the trip to Paris for a Heineken Cup game which Stade Francais’ chairman Max Guazzini moved to the 80,000-capacity home of French rugby and what followed was truly memorable.
Guazzini’s penchant for eccentricity exploded into full technicolor that night with 76,569 supporters treated to a sideshow of jousting knights, sword-wielding soldiers, Moulin Rouge dancers and swooping eagles.
And then Quins went out and spoiled the party.
"There was a huge crowd," Ross recalled. "They had bloody jousters on the sideline, knights in full armour going at each other. We were oblivious to that, we were just inside in the tunnel trying not to look at the can-can dancers."
Dean Richards’ side built up an early 12-0 lead but had to hang on grimly in the face of a ferocious onslaught by the men in pink towards the end and Ross still rates it as one of his greatest memories in rugby.
A similar script would do very nicely this week but Harlequins were almost taken for granted prior to all the pantomime back in 2008 and Ross doesn’t see France making a similar mistake this time.
"It’s a different kettle of fish this time around. You’re playing the national side and they’ve quality players throughout."
One of those Stade players to scrum down opposite Ross that day was Dimitri Szarzewski who, along with Jean-Baptiste Poux, has been called into the French front row this week in yet another example of the frightening strength in depth available to Philippe Saint-Andre.
"I don’t think I’ve ever seen a weak scrummaging French pack to be honest. The French, they love their scrum, they take it very seriously. It’s a big test of manhood for them so you really have to be switched on and 100% on your game. Otherwise you’re going to be going backwards at the rate of knots."
Ireland’s scrum gave away a pair of penalties in the second half when the sides met in the first pre-World Cup warm-up in Bordeaux’s Stade Cahaban-Delmas last summer but coped reasonably comfortably on the return in Dublin seven days later.
A keen student of the set-piece, Ross noticed the French and Italian packs giving each other the "hurry up" as they packed down in last week’s opener and, though Julien Malzieu scored a try off one turnover, the Italians got the shove on a few times too.
The likelihood is that Ross will be there for the vast majority of it as, with Ireland’s tight-head resources so limited, he is invariably asked to clock in for a full shift. But not even the expected Siberian chill can douse his enthusiasm: "I’d take minus six over 25 degrees any day of the week."
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