O’Gara keen to win back Ireland place

CAST an eye over the Irish rugby scene and consider those you believe to have the most competitive streak.

We tend to go foremost to Brian O’Driscoll or Paul O’Connell, but, among all the above, what of Ronan O’Gara? Name me another who is targeted so much, knocked down so often, yet bounces back every single time. Name me another athlete who, in the course of his/her career, has been knocked back so often yet keeps coming back for more.

True grit behind a smooth veneer, steely mental toughness behind an angelic grin, ferociously combative and competitive streak in the kind of physique that isn’t designed naturally to cope with such a ferociously combative and competitive sport – that’s the real Ronan O’Gara.

“I’ve met a lot of challenges but I’ve yet to see a fella better me, and I suppose that’s the definition of competitiveness, isn’t it? I have had setbacks but I’ll get up, dust myself off, face the challenge again.”

No question, ever, of perhaps taking himself out of the line of fire to save himself for his other out-half duties, the duties that make him such a pivotal figure in Munster red and in Ireland green.

“That thought never even enters my head. I’m a big believer in playing for the team. There are guys there who have only their own interests at heart, but these fellas don’t last. You look at people who know their rugby and they can identify those people – it’s not for me to name them. The greatest players are the team players.”

Now though, as he enters his 14th season with Munster, perhaps it’s time to have a little talk with himself.

“I might have to get a little bit smarter, talk to my Dad, whose opinion I value most. It’s a case of not promoting yourself for the tackle either; you’ve got to make the tackles when they’re in your channel but don’t run forty yards to get hit. But, when you take to the pitch and you have a driven streak in you, you become obsessed, you want to try and do everything. The times I’m playing my best is when I pull back a little, play a bit cuter, but that only happens maybe once in five games.”

That steel was hardened by a seminal game early in his Munster career.

“The Heineken Cup final loss to Northampton in 2000; after that game, I developed serious mental resolve – I got ten years of education in 72 hours. The build-up was wrong, we were emotionally drained on the Friday night before the game, where we needed to be emotionally drained on the Saturday night, after the game. That was probably the easiest final to win, but you have to ask the question – where would the Munster machine be now if we had gone home with a winning programme that day, as opposed to what happened?

“That’s what created the bond between this team and the supporters, and we’ve seen that grow and grow, 26,000 supporters now in Thomond Park for every Heineken Cup game, huge crowds also for the Magners League.”

The league and cup campaigns are only just around the corner and O’Gara is counting down the days.

“At this stage I’ve decided in my head that I have only two years left at the top. I’ve been extremely lucky with injuries, the body is fine. In terms of emotion, ambition, being driven, that has never been an issue for me.

“I’m looking forward to this season. Last season was disappointing, losing the last game to Biarritz (Heineken Cup semi-final), and the situation with Ireland now, where I seem to have lost my place – that’s something I’m really looking forward to working on this season.”

Still working, still learning, even at 33?

“You’re always learning, you’re always trying to work on your deficiencies and always trying to make things easier for yourself on the field. You’re looking for that bit of improvement, and sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day. I think about the game a lot, I enjoy the planning involved in it too. A lot of people probably think you go from game to game. That’s a simplified version of it, but there’s an awful lot more involved in your week. It was never an individual thing, but it’s gone from team – 15 people – to a squad, 30 people; everyone has to know calls, everyone has to be a cog in the wheel.”

He continued: “As an out-half you’re depending so much on the quality of ball you’re getting, on the people around you, whether it’s front-foot ball or medium ball or slow ball; some days you can look like a genius and some days you can look like a donkey, but that’s where I am, right in the middle of all that. If you get ball where the first pillaging is going forward, then it’s likely I’ll be running onto the ball, and I can inject pace for Earlsy (Keith Earls), which makes us all look good. But if we’re stopped in our tracks, the ball is slower coming back, their defensive line is more settled – you’re talking about tiny margins, but huge differences.”

All things considered then, an exciting season in prospect, with both province and country, what with Ireland now also having its own new stadium in the new Lansdowne Road – the Aviva Stadium?

“Yeah, that will for the new breed of Irish player coming through, that will be their home. It was the old Lansdowne Road for me, those are my best memories with Ireland – on a good day it was unbelievable.

“Then we had Ireland/England in Croke Park, which will never be surpassed for emotion. For consistency, however, and for a so-called club team, there was always something special/crazy about Thomond Park on the big Heineken Cup nights. I’m a proud Irishman, and nothing beats representing your country, but there’s something special about being a Munster player, about playing for this province – I think really you’d have to be a player, to fully appreciate how great that honour is. I’ve been so lucky to be a part of that team now for 12 or 13 years, and it’s very special, that atmosphere in Thomond Park on a Heineken Cup night – nothing could beat that.”

In light of the huge money now being offered by the French clubs, what chance the Irish provinces losing some of the best of their talent, especially with salaries being reduced here?

“Well I certainly wouldn’t be tempted, not now, the simple reality is that I love playing here. Munster provides everything I’m looking for, and more. I believe the link of playing for your own parish, the GAA thing, is applicable to this Munster team.

“You have a talented group of players, a competitive group of players, an ambitious group of players, looking to win things. I’m lucky to be part of that, in my home place, among my own family and friends.

“I think though that times are changing, it’s going to be different, and it’s going to be interesting.

“The game in France is going to explode, it’s getting bigger and bigger. I was there for the Heineken Cup final in Paris in May, doing an adidas promotion on the Champs Elysées, and in three hours in the morning they did something like 20 times the business they’d do in a normal day – that just shows the potential that’s there.

“The budgets they have are huge. But if you have the right people in charge of things in Munster – and there’s a good management team there at the moment – and you have good young players coming through, surely they’ll want to play for their home province? But if a fella is offered a million a year, which is nowhere near what young fellas are getting here at the moment – probably around €200,000 a year – who knows?”

“These are good times, but the last thing we need is for someone like Keith Earls to head for France.

“That wouldn’t just destroy Munster rugby, it would be a huge blow to Limerick rugby also.”