Munster on different path to Ronan O’Gara era, says Peter O'Mahony
O’Gara began his coaching career with the Parisian club in 2012 on retiring as a player after 236 appearances in 15 glorious years at fly-half for his native Munster.
The two clubs clash for the first time since his departure at Stade Yves du Manoir a week on Sunday and while O’Mahony has the utmost respect for his former team-mate, he believes Munster are heading in a different direction to the path they were on when O’Gara called it quits.
“He knows what we’re about, knows what the club is about. He is probably one of the reasons why I’m sitting here, why the club is where it is competing in Europe,” O’Mahony said at yesterday’s Champions Cup launch for PRO12 clubs in Dublin.
“The history we have, he had a big part to play in it. We certainly wouldn’t take anything away from what he has done. He would have an insight into us. At the end of the day, he can give them an insight into what his group were about and what they stood for which is a huge part of what we stand for.
“But, we’ve a different group. We have a younger group, one that wants to stamp their authority on the Munster jersey over the next three or four years. We take a huge amount from our history. It is important to us. But, we’re going in a different direction and we want to make it our own direction.”
O’Mahony said he doubted there would be any divided loyalties from Corkman O’Gara when the two sides clash home and away over the next three months as Munster aim to reach the knockout stages for the first time in three seasons and Racing bid to at least match their first final appearance in the competition last May, when they lost to Saracens in Lyon.
“ROG will always have Munster in his heart, he’ll tell you that himself. He’s a Munster man, a Cork man, through and through.
“But he’s a massive competitor and has been all his career, so he’ll be conducting his business trying to go about beating Munster on Saturday. That’s his job now, that’s what puts bread on the table for his family. That’s what is important to him now. He’s been around us for a long time but as I said, he’s a massive competitor and he’ll want his side to win on Saturday.”
O’Mahony, 27, said his stand-out memory of O’Gara as a team-mate was the game-winning drop goal the fly-half kicked against Northampton at the end of 40-plus phases with 80 minutes up at Thomond Park in November, 2011, the Ireland flanker’s European debut.
“He’s an incredible competitor, he gave you confidence just being around him when you were on the pitch with him — making decisions, putting the ball in front of you — he was a pleasure to play with, a pleasure to be around, not just on the pitch but off it as well.”
O’Mahony will this Saturday continue his comeback from a serious knee injury against old rivals Leinster at the Aviva Stadium, having made his first appearance in a Munster jersey in 18 months last Saturday with 20 minutes off the bench against Zebre.
“I was quite nervous,” he said. “Driving home from training on the Wednesday and I was getting nervous about the Saturday, which was strange. Normally you get it about 24 hours out when you’re involved regularly but I think what it’s taught me to do is not to take it for granted.
“When you’re in the starting XV week in, week out and you’re playing consistently, you almost take not only the games, but going out training...what I found the hardest was being on my own training and I loved getting back with the group and just getting onto the pitch and lacing the boots and going out doing a warm-up with the squad.
“That just put a smile on my face and that’s what I’m going to try to do, I’m going to try not to take it for granted over the next few weeks and few months and few years.” Drawn in a European pool alongside Racing, Leicester Tigers and Glasgow Warriors, O’Mahony may have to keep smiling through some tough assignments while director of rugby Erasmus accepted it was two-time champions Munster that would be seen as the easy game in the group.
“I was looking at who we would be playing and I thought, ‘who would be the easiest, you know, the weaker team in the pool?’” Erasmus said.
“I probably thought people would think we would be. It is up to us to change that perception.”
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