O’Gara fan Monye motivated by prospects of Lions place

THE problem for Ugo Monye is that his career-defining moment has already been and gone.

No matter what he goes on to achieve in his career, the image that will stick in the mind is the Harlequins wing clenching his fists and roaring to the crowd after scoring his stunning breakaway try in the third Test of the Lions tour to South Africa four years ago.

That may be no bad thing; after all, the majority of players go through their careers searching for just such a moment.

Yet what it does mean is that Monye is looking for more, for another defining pose that will cement him in the public consciousness. It won’t come with England, as he has been quietly shifted away from Stuart Lancaster’s evolving side.

It could come in the Aviva Premiership, but that seems unlikely due to the fact that a parochial competition does not provide such moments too often.

So, Monye reasons, it must come in the Heineken Cup.

Perhaps that will be in Dublin in the final, but equally it could come at the Stoop this Sunday.

Munster have the cache that Monye relishes, and it will be against some of his fellow Lions from four years ago; indeed, he admits that he respects no-one in the game more than Ronan O’Gara.

But if there comes another defining moment then it could increase the chances of Monye going on the defining tour, that of the Lions embarking to the southern hemisphere, this time to Australia.

“Of course I still think there’s a chance of me going on the Lions tour,” says the affable 29-year-old.

“That’s my motivations each and every week. You aren’t being ambitious if that thought isn’t in the back of your head.

“The Lions tour in 2009 was the best thing I have done in my entire life. I’d be pretty hard pushed to replicate the emotions I had in that Third Test.

“I spoke to some of the elder statesmen then, like Brian O’Driscoll, and they said that was the best tour they had ever done as well.

“Which players did I learn from on that tour? Well Ronan O’Gara is one of the players I respect more than anyone. He is so honest and will put his hand up when he has a bad game. He works hard, is incredibly professional and as a winger if you’re not on your game he will make you look stupid. I’m excited about the challenge of locking horns with him in the Heineken. He’s an exceptional player, but he’s one of many in that Munster team.”

Yet Monye is just one of many exceptional players Conor O’Shea can call on as well.

Quins have quietly become the beating heart of English rugby, their modest, understated approach quickly becoming the template for the national team.

Where England had the nadir of the 2011 World Cup, Harlequins had Bloodgate. Watershed moments, both, lessons have been learnt.

And as Quins prepare for their first Heineken Cup quarter-final since that cursed day against Leinster four years ago, it is clear that the English champions have a culture for others to aspire to.

“We have grown up together,” explains Monye, who like many of his team-mates came through the club’s impressive Academy. “That means you take ownership of the club. I have been here for 11 years; Jordan Turner-Hall has played 150 games at the age of 25, Mike Brown and Nick Easter have both passed the 200 game mark this season and Chris Robshaw will next year.

“To us, this is not just a club that pays your wages; it is more than that. Now the challenge is to carry on from last year and build on it, and we are in the process of doing that.”

And Harlequins have raised the bar so high that nothing less than an assault on the Heineken Cup will be good enough.

They won the Amlin Challenge Cup two years ago, beating Munster at Thomond Park in the quarter-final — “we were 8/1 to win that game and that really annoyed me. I knew we were going to win,” says Monye with a smile — but after being crowned English champions last May the pressure is on.

Indeed, they are likely to be favourites on Saturday against a Munster team that may not quite be what it was. Still, Monye is taking nothing for granted.

He added: “Munster went through a slight transitional period, but they brought players in. Simon Zebo has been exceptional and I was gutted for him when he got injured — I sent him a text saying he had been on fire.

“But then you’ve got the O’Gara’s, the Keith Earls’ and the Paul O’Connell’s of this world, so they are a top side.

“People talk about it being a ‘revenge’ match for them after what happened two years ago, but it’s nothing of the sort. We know we have to get it spot on to have any chance.”

And who knows, perhaps it might include another defining moment for Monye.