Ronan O'Gara: We travel to Dublin with a fair Cork tailwind

Being on Leeside has been lovely but it also gave us an extra day’s prep and for me over any other training base, familiarity. This was all necessary. The team needs repetition, because the machine isn’t functioning fully like I want it to.

IRISH FAVOUR: La Rochelle management, Donnacha Ryan (far left), Ronan O'Gara and Romain Carmignani (far right) pose for pictures at Temple Hill with members of PBC's Munster Schools Cup winning team (from left), James O'Leary, Oscar Squires, Mike Morgan, Neville O'Leary and Gene O'Leary-Kareem.

AND so the narrative goes. Wasn’t that some master stroke by ROG, bringing the La Rochelle boys back to the hood? See how he controlled the big match build-up with dinner in Isaacs and a trad session in Sin É.

Were it all that easy. It’s a seductive tale for sure, and we did give MacCurtain Street a lash and stirred some old memories in Temple Hill and Musgrave Park. But in terms of a material effect when the whistle goes in Lansdowne Road on Saturday at 5.30, it will all be quite irrelevant.