No pain, no gain is O’Gara’s philosophy
Four days after helping Munster finally turn the tables on old rivals Leinster, O’Gara is left with a swollen eye on top of pains in his ankle, knee and back. But, matter of factly, he described his injuries as being no more than “That’s what you get in those derby games.”
Unlike unfortunate skipper Paul O’Connell, none of the knocks will threaten his participation on Saturday but he knows it will be another tough physical day at the office. “They’re hardy, they look physical, they look direct.
He believes Munster will still need to be at their best to take on a team that has now crept above the relegation zone in France. Pressure off, and a home record of paramount importance to this proud club, it won’t be easy.
“Brive are going to do what they think is best to win, but I’m not in their dressing room. I’m sure they’re going to have a plan. That’s for them.”
O’Gara believes Munster will have to focus on themselves, saying: “We have done that and that has been the pleasing thing over the last few weeks. We’ve concentrated on ourselves and there has been a good atmosphere in the camp.
“Hopefully, with the weather getting better it will suit the game we’re trying to play. We have a number of different game plans, so that’s the important thing. But as you saw on Saturday night, attitude is probably everything, in whatever sport it is. Whether it’s a junior B hurling game, or an international match, if you have the right attitude you have a chance.”
Clearly, O’Gara was proud at the way Munster stood up to the Leinster challenge at Thomond Park and he said it was both emotionally and physically draining. But smiling, he said: “Looking back it was a good game to win because they threw everything at us. They played particularly well. They were comfortable at half-time. That’s what pleased me most about the squad, our willingness to get back into the game.
“Considering what has happened this season, I think the easy option would have been to let them get the better of us but fellas dug deep and found something. We kept coming and kept producing.”
He still thinks about Munster’s failure to qualify for the Heineken Cup knock-out stages but insists he has moved on and refuses to blame the away defeat to Toulon as being the key reason for that failure.
“It’s not what happened in Toulon, that happens in rugby and in Munster rugby especially. You’re going to get days like that when a French team produces and plays their best game of the season, like they did against us. What we have to look at is our performance against London Irish and the Ospreys. They’re the two games which cost us qualification.
“Not qualifying from the group came down to just a bonus point, so they’re the small margins we’re talking about. I just think we were a bit soft mentally against London Irish in the first game of the campaign; you think you have five games to make it up but at this level you don’t.
“It was crushing to lose out in the Heineken, but in professional sport you have to move on. Last Saturday, for instance, is gone, is over, it has been over for a few days. People should move on and stop talking about it.
“For us it’s a quarter-final of a cup. You can go down the route that it’s only the Amlin Cup, but we’re motivated to try and win the competition. There are probably only eight or nine weeks left in the season, and there’s a game every Saturday, hopefully. So they are one-off games, you prepare for that Saturday, and you move on. It would be nice to get a bit of momentum going to go and enjoy the last few weeks of the season.”
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