Ready for the off

RONAN O'GARA is never far from the headlines whether he's playing for Munster, Ireland or the Lions. Remember the furore when Aussie Duncan McRae tried to punch his head off in that infamous clash down under in 2001?

Nor are you likely to forget the excitement surrounding reports a year or two ago that he was set to leave rugby union and join the Miami Dolphins.

And your eyes surely widened in amazement on opening your newspaper a few weeks ago to discover he had paid around €725,000 for a plot of land on Maryborough Hill in Cork. Trouble is, he himself got just as much of a shock when the story appeared in the property section of the Irish Examiner. He believed the deal was strictly private. His frustration is still raw.

"It was the last thing I wanted," he asserts, before laughing: "It's the bank's money. It's a long-term investment and I will build there some day. The deal was done months before it hit the papers. In all these things, you live and learn."

Thankfully, the messenger wasn't shot in this instance - O'Gara speaks freely to the fourth estate.

He was delighted with the enforced IRFU break from active competition throughout August and September and is now fresh for a campaign which hopefully will culminate in the Lions tour of New Zealand next summer.

"I expect to play 30 matches this season, that's not strictly defined, but it won't be more than that," he says.

"The thing about Munster and the IRFU is that they will listen to you.

"They will deal with you as an individual as opposed to a group of players and I have a good relationship with both.

"Apart from the obvious benefits, our absence gave the fringe players a chance to show what they were capable of. Trevor Hogan is a shining example of that. Look around at Jerry Flannery, Mike Prendergast, Denis Leamy, Mossie [Lawler] was injured but he's stepping up to the plate. Paul Burke and others also got game time and that's important because you don't know what might happen."

O'Gara is happy to have three full games under his belt.

He "wasn't in the groove at all" in his first outing against Llanelli but didn't allow that to bother him.

"Good players trust themselves and back themselves," he stressed.

A week later, he dropped a match-winning goal against Glasgow with the last kick of the game. And then came the visit of the one-time great Cardiff to Thomond Park.

"We had a poor start - until it got saucy up front and I think that's what it needed," he says.

"The boys got stuck in and the second-half was up 30% on the first. We got four tries and ran up 49 points, although they were a poor side. They didn't have a go off us at all, they were more interested in flaking fellas. Now it's another step up this weekend.

"This is my seventh Heineken Cup campaign but the desire to win it is greater than ever. You must never have a defeatist attitude. It's a new campaign, a fresh start. I lay my principles in sport on taking one week at a time. I'll put all my focus this week on Harlequins and on Sunday morning, I'll think about the Ospreys.

"The desire is huge and it's increasing because I realise that time is ticking. I remember the Claw [Peter Clohessy] saying when he was 30 with 50 caps, he was nervous before every game and still had an unbelievable craving for success. That's exactly how I feel. I think I'm behind Anthony Foley and John Kelly and level with John Hayes for Heineken Cup appearances, something like 46. But when you look around the dressing-room, there are a lot of fellas of the same age and we have battled together. It's time to try another way. All the other teams will be doing the same and there are some bloody good ones out there, but I don't subscribe to the theory that we are the nearly men."

O'Gara acknowledges that once a team reaches the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup the standard is every bit as high as a Six Nations encounter.

He recalls Munster's epic semi-final against Wasps and the Wasps-Toulouse decider last year as some of the greatest rugby he has seen.

He talks of the international content in most of the teams, with players coming from all over the rugby globe, and Harlequins are no different.

They have a large Irish contingent in their ranks but their form this season surely suggests they will be a pushover for Munster.

"That's exactly what I've been waiting for people to say," Ronan says ruefully.

"You must beware the wounded animal and they are wounded at the minute. When a team is backed into a corner and playing for their lives and careers, that's when they are most dangerous. When you look through their team, they have some serious players and I hope our supporters don't think it's simply a case of turning up because the players certainly don't.

"It would be a disastrous game to lose and indeed every game at home would be in the same category because of the standards we have set. That's not being cocky. It's just a measure of the confidence within the camp. To make any progress you've got to win your home games."