‘The moment you know you’ve won or lost’
The moment when the packs of Toulon and Munster collide at a point of the game and something has to give. The instant when a collective will disintegrates and a spirit is broken.
If that happens to the visiting Munster forwards, the Ireland and Lions lock is only too aware that the province’s European dream will end in a premature stage not experienced for a dozen years and that prospect scares the life out of him.
“Sports psychologists will talk about a championship moment, when it comes down to one big play,” O’Callaghan said. “More so than skill or anything else, it comes down to want, and I think we’ve definitely been there at times with our pack, and known that this is a point in the game when you can break their spirit.
“To be fair, there have been times as well when we’ve been broken. It’s getting to that stage and knowing you can get through it that is the big thing on Sunday. It’s exactly that: there will be a point in this game when it comes down and it will all be laid on the line. Then, it’s about who is willing to put their hand up and say ‘We want it more’.
“I wouldn’t be able to say there was any key moment in the first game.
“I do remember it in finals, (against Toulouse) I remember that we had a scrum and a disallowed try, so we went back up for a scrum and I remember it: if you looked over at us, I’d say as Eddie O’Sullivan would say, we looked like mad dogs in a meat house. It’s just one of those times.
“It isn’t the whole time, but you know this one will come down to it again.”
Munster’s hopes of Heineken Cup survival will rely on victory by the Mediterranean this weekend and make no mistake, says O’Callaghan, that necessary win over this expensively assembled Toulon side will depend on the titanic battle that is expected between the opposing forwards.
“In big, tight games, it always comes down to 1 to 8. It comes down to the physical battle, and that will definitely be the case with Toulon.
“They pride themselves on their scrum and their set-piece and their mauls.
“I know backs mightn’t agree with it, but it’s where every rugby match is always decided. One to 8 decide it. There is that saying, forwards decide it, the backs by how much.
“It’s definitely the case: if you don’t front up, your backs areprobably never going to get you out of the hole. You just know going into this game for us, there is a massive forward emphasis. You are going to be tested, and tested in ways beyond your fitness, too.
“All of us have been there, and it will come down to your want to get off the ground, help out your team-mates and get back in the line, or do the things you wouldn’t get a stat for. They are the little things that matter.”
And no better man to welcome back to the Munster fold for the biggest game of the year than captain Paul O’Connell, free to play after completing a four-week suspension following the send-off that ruined his comeback from injury in December.
“It’s massive we’ve got Paul back,” his fellow second row said. “It’s great to have him back as a player and we all know how good he is at stuff like that, but for his leadership qualities, we need them at the moment. He’s an incredible leader, the way he speaks, the way he addresses the lads.
“He asks you to do nothing he wouldn’t do himself. The high standards he sets for himself and the rest of us, that is the biggest asset in getting him back. It’s great to have him back as a player, but his leadership is needed more than ever.”
O’Callaghan said discussion of O’Connell’s fitness was misplaced with the captain’s heart as important as his staying power.
“Paul is a totally different type of beast: there would be no fear in putting him out there for 80 minutes. He will go all day for you, and when fitness and everything doesn’t matter, when it comes down to want and the hunger to get up off the ground, you don’t want anyone else bar Paulie.
“He might be flagging, but what he has in terms of his motivation and personal standards, they will drive him through that. I was on the Lions tour when he had no teeth and still went out in the third Test and put in a massive performance.
“The fella can do things no other fella can do in terms of going through the pain barrier. If there is a pain barrier with his fitness, I’m sure he’s willing to go through that for the squad.”
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