I have nothing to prove, insists focused O’Gara
Has it affected him?
No, is the short answer. He’s still as open, still as frank, still as honest as he was ten years ago. Sometimes that honesty is misinterpreted, taken as arrogance, as it was when his comments about the English Premiership being over-hyped hit the streets just before Munster played Leicester in the Heineken Cup in Welford Road late last year.
A prodigious injury-time into-the-wind-and-rain kick from inside his own half to win that game, cut short the flood of outrage ready to be released cross-channel.
This week, he was at it again. Asked about his feelings on being named captain of Munster for tonight’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Llanelli, the outstanding names he is following, Ronan threw us a bit of a curveball.
“I’ve discussed this with Paul (O’Connell) during the summer. I felt if he wanted to be captain I would stand aside, but if he didn’t I would let my name go forward. I don’t feel, at this stage, I have anything to prove. I’m not too interested in being captain for a season. I think it benefited my own game (not being captain), I had so much to work on that maybe I didn’t need that distraction, from a completely selfish point of view.
“Anyway, in Munster I think it suits that a forward is captain.”
From that response it could be thought, what a cocky so-and-so, no appreciation.
Wrong. He knows the honour he’s just been handed, couldn’t be more proud. But this guy’s focus is on improvement, improvement, improvement.
“It’s huge, great to be named officially as captain, but to be honest I’ll be concentrating on my own game. You look at the fellas here (he was on a platform with Alan Quinlan, Donncha O’Callaghan and Peter Stringer), Quinny will be organising the backrow, Donncha will be in charge of the front five and Strings will be calling the shots like he always does. On the pitch it comes easy to be leading, talking, motivating, we have plenty of fellas capable of doing that.
“The big thing is that the 15 fellas who take the pitch are over the loss of Paulie. Not only is he a fantastic rugby-player, he’s a huge presence, any team would be weakened in his absence. We’ve known for weeks he’d be missing, it’s up to us now to make sure we give Paul an opportunity to lead us in a semi-final.”
Asked if he could empathise with Llanelli, denied at the playoff stages of the Heineken Cup almost as often as Munster themselves, almost as heartbreakingly, his reply was devoid of any soft-shoe shuffle.
“Well they’re honest, you know? That’s an important trait, very similar to us a few years ago. The big difference is that we’ve won the cup, a crucial difference, and that has to stand to us, that we have achieved that.
“But I don’t empathise with anyone. We have so much to concentrate on, my focus is on here, I don’t have time to think about what other people are doing. I’m fully aware of how proud they are, but we’re a good team too.”
No nonsense, no banalities. Here’s his take on a suggestion that after Rome, his demeanour suggested disappointment, mission unfulfilled – would this give him additional incentive for this Heineken Cup encounter?
“It’s two different teams, no link whatsoever. You can’t make comparisons really. Most of the forwards are Munster but the backline has nothing to do with Munster, play a different game altogether.”
Later, he elaborated on that, and in particular the difficulties of slotting back in with the Munster backs at such short notice.
“Probably Trevor (Halstead) or Lifeimi (Mafi) or Barry (Murphy) will be in the centre, I’ve had years with them so that’s not an issue. In the back three we have injuries, I’m not sure of the combination there. Playing with the Irish backline is different, we have different strengths down here in different areas, but if you look at the Munster backline over the last few years, in the quarter-final, semi-final, final, I thought the backs played really well. We know our combinations, know what we’re trying to do.”
So it’ll be alright on the night? Ouch — wrong question.
“That’s a dangerous attitude to take, ‘Twill be alright on the night,’ — I don’t think that’s a theory anyone down here subscribes to.
“We’re aware of how good Llanelli are, we’ll be ripped apart if we defend like we did in the first-half against Ulster (they conceded three tries in the first-half of a Magner’s League game last Friday night). As a team it’s important we bring our international standards back here with us; the boys’ standards here have been brilliant for the last two months.
“We’ve got to match that. We have to be selective about how much new stuff we try on Friday night, pick one or two areas we want to attack them in, go after them there as opposed to trying to perfect five or six things, because we genuinely haven’t had enough time to prepare.”
Focus, that’s what it’ll come down to. The usual massive travelling Munster support won’t be there on this occasion, denied on this occasion by a Llanelli club determined to restrict Munster to their minimum entitlement, determined also to retain the advantage of playing in Stradey Park rather than a financial killing by moving the game to Cardiff. O’Gara, and Munster, will need to be fully tuned in from first whistle to last.
“Definitely, it could be all over, that has to be the motivation. You have to give them credit, they’re a proud and loyal club, made this decision for rugby reasons, for the ambition of winning the cup this year, not for financial reasons.
“They’re taken us to Stradey, we’re going to be away from home, that’s a test of a fella too. It’s easy to perform at home, in Thomond — you see different qualities in fellas away from home.”
Different qualities. Some have them in abundance.
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