Ronan O'Gara: Hardest part of Cup final week are the early conversations

La Rochelle's Irish coach Ronan O'Gara (C) looks on during the French Top 14 rugby union match between La Rochelle and SU Agen Lot-et-Garonne at the Marcel Deflandre Stadium. (Photo by XAVIER LEOTY/AFP via Getty Images)

THE conversations last Sunday morning were difficult. The first time in a nine-year coaching journey that the responsibility fell to me to tell a player he wasn’t going to involved in a massive Cup final.

Did you see Moneyball? Where Billy Beane, the Oakland A’s GM is tutoring his sidekick on how to break bad news to a player.

‘They’re professionals, just give it to them straight,” he advised. “Would you rather die from a bullet to the head or six to the chest and bleed to death?’ Are those my only choices?

The last thing a player wants to hear in those circumstances is ‘you’re doing great, it’s just one of those things, keep it up’. If they were doing that great, they will argue, then how come I’m not involved Saturday? ‘Make sure you prove me wrong in training this week’, is sanother I would reach for because a) they are professional athletes, that’s a given and b) nothing substantial is going to change in one week’.

It’s the one conversation where you are duty-bound to be as precise and brutal as necessary, where you leave no room for ambiguity and where all sides know exactly where they stand. In that moment, every subordinate message is lost. All they are hearing is either ‘I’m on the team’ or ‘I am not on the 23’. The time for why and why-not conversations is 24 hours later when they are through the initial grieving period.

The most important part of these difficult conversations from a coach’s point of view is taking ownership. This is my decision and I hold my hand up for the selection and the tactics if they don’t work out. ‘I got it wrong, lads’ is the simplest, most difficult thing to say for some people.

You are giving them horrible news but frequently it’s important to reinforce the opinion that I see a big future for him here. They won’t appreciate that but if you are good to your words, they will look back and be able to extract a positive from a negative story. You are playing with people’s emotions every minute of the day in our business which is horrendous at times. But what is really pleasing is how united the group has been. We said here last week that La Rochelle had a pair of Cup finals in seven days, and the crossover between the squads for both would be as limited as it needed to be.

The thing I am struggling with still, however, are those boys on the bench who are disappointed and down and I am thinking we are not going to get the best out of them if they stay like that. It’s going to be 30 degrees in Marseille on Saturday, how we finish the game is every bit as important as how we start it. Some players think ‘well, if X is starting ahead of me, the coach must think he is better than me’. That is not the case.

I remember a while back Eddie Jones, the England head coach, chastising a reporter for querying why a particular player wasn’t starting. Jones’ response was as withering as possible, encouraging the writer to come join him in the modern era of 23-man squads. Whatever about the methodology, he was absolutely correct from a coaching standpoint. Across many sports, there remains a trace of of the ‘starting fifteen’ mentality and the inadequacy of ‘being a sub’. No coach of any substance operates on that basis. In rugby, there will be six front rows playing every game, plus a second row and back row replacement. You will require a utility back to cover several positions and two backs. Some forward-orientated sides go with six forwards and only two backs but either way, how could anyone preparing a side eliminate 33 per cent of the match day considerations?

It looks like we will be minus our two All Blacks on Saturday in Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Victor Vito. What an opportunity for the next men up to come into a European Cup final side.

Those tough conversations are made marginally more palatable by the fact that Saturdays’s Champions Cup decider isn’t the climax of La Rochelle’s season. After a five-point victory over Stade Francais last Saturday we have put ourselves in a good Top Four position going into the final regular season game at Lyon. We will need everyone on board for that, in every sense of the word.

If there was one word that defined the Crusaders in my time there it is ‘culture’, the right type of culture, a positive affirmation of the good in people who work in a unified way towards a common goal. Reading that back it sounds like something from a pamphlet but it’s anything but. Those who weren’t involved worked harder to try and win selection the next time – and they did everything possible to ensure the one taking their jersey was as thoroughly prepped as possible.

We are getting there.

One of the lesser-acknowledged upsides of France’s Grad Slam success this year has been the lift it has given certain Top 14 groups like ours. This bounce is a thing. I remember when Ireland lads came back into the Munster group after a successful Six Nations, there was that sense that something elite, something of proven quality, was being stirred back into the mix.

Uini Atonio, our prop, has been with La Rochelle for a decade, but has never won anything. France’s Grand Slam this year was his first taste of championship success. Himself, Greg Alldritt and Jonathan Danty got a taste of silverware and sprinkled the stardust when they returned to the club. La Rochelle, remember, has never won silverware but several of our number (three more were also on the extended French squad) got up close with the biggest rugby prize outside the World Cup. Now everyone is thinking France 2023 could be a wonderful year and we could be there. Winning breeds confidence and the feeling that everything is achievable. It’s a powerful intangible.

The three lads know what it’s like and what is possible when you are part of a progressive, inspiring unit. Fabien Galthie has stirred something very important into French rugby. I am not sure there is a proper appreciation of the difference in the French national squad now compared to before. When I was with Racing 92 I was in disbelief at how underwhelmed players were going into their national camp at the time. For the first time it’s become Club France, and this is at least part due to the agreement between the FFR and the Top 14 owners in the LNR that international players have to be properly managed. We are all reaping the benefits of that.

We arrive in Marseille Thursday night. Everyone in the group values the promise of a good performance on Saturday. We know Leinster and their quality. We know we didn’t deliver our best against Racing 92 but that performance, defensively at least, should be examined in a different light now when the quality of Racing’s offence is factored in. We know Jonny Sexton will kicks his kicks and run the game if he is allowed to. It is our job to arrive ready and united, to be flexible and nimble, to identify and seize the moments when they present themselves. And to do that, we will need all 23 players razor-sharp and ready.