Leicester ‘will use O’Gara interview as motivation’

LEICESTER assistant coach Richard Cockerill, admits that the club will use the outburst from Munster’s Ronan O’Gara to motivate their players for Sunday’s Heineken Cup opener at Welford.

O’Gara suggested that certain English players are overrated — a comment which has not gone unnoticed in the Tigers’ lair.

“It makes you smile ... players of his experience don’t normally give other teams that sort of ammunition,” said Cockerill.

“But fair play, they’re European champions and we’re not. If they want to stick themselves up there as favourites that’s fine.

“But we’re not a bad team either. Let’s just see what happens on Sunday.”

“We have to win this game and, hopefully, not allow them anything out of it,” he told The Guardian.

He admitted the coaching team have been picking the brains of their former Munster fly-half Paul Burke.

“I’m sure they’ll have changed their calls but it does give you a bit of inside knowledge. Given the pool we’re in, you really don’t want to be going to Thomond Park on the final weekend in a winner-takes-all situation.

“They’ve not had a good start to the Magners League but a lot of their international players have only just come back. We’ll treat them with the utmost respect.”

Tigers head coach Pat Howard believes O’Gara’s criticism of “over-hyped” English players should be taken with a “grain of salt”.

And Howard said his views would have little effect on the Tigers’ preparations for Sunday’s showdown.

“That shoulder injury he’s got, which I think is concussion, may have affected his head a little bit,” he laughed.

“He can make his comments but, as an Australian, I don’t care.

“I am sure it will fire up England when they play Ireland, but you always take these things with a grain of salt.”