The man knocking on the door at No 10
However, should there be a setback in the Ireland out-half’s rehabilitation, it would mean Munster will be without the player who has played arguably the greatest part this season in bringing them to within 80 minutes of a fourth Heineken Cup final. But, it shouldn’t be all doom and gloom.
Lest we forget the Cork man has an able deputy in the hugely underrated Australian, Paul Warwick.
Declan Kidney took every precaution in a World Cup season when, he felt O’Gara would be playing more games than previous seasons, and subsequently ensured that he’d have an experienced and reliable understudy at No 10. Jeremy Manning was still maturing, so Kidney went out of his way to bring Warwick from Connacht, the province where the Aussie first made his name.
He left an indelible imprint since touching down with the westerners in the summer of 2004, and though the Heineken Cup dream eluded Michael Bradley’s men during his three seasons there, his versatility saw Brisbane-born Warwick slot in seamlessly to a variety of different positions, including out half, second centre and full-back.
We should be thankful to Connacht lock Andrew Farley for his part in bringing Warwick to Ireland in the first place. Connacht needed another out half and Farley, another Brisbane native, brought Warwick’s name to Bradley’s attention.
At the time, he was captain of the Australian Sevens, but still searching for a Super 12 contract. However, according to Farley, Australia was awash with out halves, and outside of his international sevens duties, Warwick was plying his trade at Sydney-based club, Manly.
“We’ve known each other since we were kids and played against each other through school, but Paul always stood out,” says Farley. “He was the king, an awesome rugby player at school, very skilful. He’s a year younger than me but I played with him at schoolboys’ representative level.
“He hadn’t picked up a contract (with a Super 12/14 franchise) in Australia at the time — there were plenty No 10s floating around, so I asked him what he’d think of coming to Ireland, and he jumped at the idea.”
He arrived in Connacht and made an immediate impact. Farley says the forwards liked his style: when the bruisers needed someone to direct the ship behind them, Warwick stood up to the plate and delivered.
“Paulie is someone who can totally change a match,” Farley adds. “He makes decisions in most matches where you think, ‘Crikey, how did he do that?’. He’s a great try scorer too. There are people in the game who are out-and-out try scorers, but Paul is a try-scorer.
“He has worked very hard on his kicking game, not only for the sticks but also around the field.”
Warwick moved to Munster last summer and while O’Gara was away on international duty, he set down a marker as Munster made a good start to the Magners League season, playing five games, winning two, drawing one and losing two.
“Everyone wants to play at the highest level possible — and it has been our main goal in Connacht to play in the Heineken Cup. But Paulie got an opportunity to go down to Munster. He made that choice himself, whether it was to play Heineken Cup or for a change of scene. We have missed him here. He’s a very good player, he’s very skilful. He chose himself to go down.”
He added: “I’ve seen Paul come on a few times for Munster now. He was able to direct a game and finish it off. He also played very well against us earlier in the season in horrible conditions in Musgrave Park — and kicked some good points that day. There was only a try and a couple of kicks in it, but on days like that, every kick counts.”
Farley believes that should O’Gara not make it back for the Heineken Cup semi-final, Munster fans shouldn’t panic as Warwick, he says, would thrive on the biggest club stage of all.
“He’s been waiting for an opportunity like that. He’s a big game player too. He’ll definitely rise to the occasion. I think he’s a different player to Ronan O’Gara. Paul is a great try scorer and has the ability to try anything from anywhere.
“He’s got very good defence too. When we finished up with schoolboys, he had a couple of seasons with the Broncos in rugby league. So his defence is pretty rock solid. Rugby league players have such a well set defence in their game.
“At the RDS, he looked comfortable when O’Gara went off. He’s very composed and he will kick the points.”
Warwick has done well from placed kicks this season. Currently he’s fifth on 101 on the list of top points scorers this season, 22 behind Glasgow Warriors kicking machine, Dan Parks.
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