Clinical Munster leave Ronan O’Gara in awe

Ronan O’Gara knew Munster were good. He just didn’t realise quite how good. He could laugh about it afterwards, though it was a hollow effort quickly dispensed with. There just wasn’t an inch of him that found solace in the fact it was his province filleting his Racing 92 colleagues.

“I was taken aback. I knew they’d be good but watching them up close they were really good. They have great detail in their game and one of the biggest things that struck me was athletes in their prime against guys in their 30’s.”

Racing fielded a XV with eight players aged 30 and over and they were no match, individually or collectively, for a Munster side with so many opponents operating at or near their prime and with all the motivation in the world to carry them.

O’Gara and fellow coaches wore their red ‘Axel’ t-shirts throughout the warm-up and the game itself and thoughts of Paul Darbyshire, Munster’s S&C coach who passed away from Motor Neurone Disease in 2011, were prominent too.

“I don’t think any of us look upon Axel in the past tense. Living here, I just expect to see him. It’s similar with Darbs, I still haven’t come to terms with him probably. You just expect to see these guys and I don’t have answers as to how to deal with that.”

Saturday was a tough day on a professional level, too.

O’Gara, blunt as always, used some bald language to express Racing’s evening. Schooled, he said. Tonked. And the next two weekends of European rugby, the second involving a trip to Limerick, don’t bode well.

All in all, it’s been a painful season for the French champs.

“Definitely,” said the Racing assistant coach who spoke of the need for a full overhaul. “Subconsciously, hunger levels wouldn’t be as high as they need to be and that’s something that really champion teams do. But we haven’t done that.

“Hopefully it’s similar to (Munster’s experience after winning the Heineken Cup in) 2006 when 2007 wasn’t a good year and 2008 was a great year. It happens but it’s sickening being involved with a team getting hosed like that.”

His fear for now is whatever about the visit of Leicester to Paris next week, no-one else in the Racing dressing-room can comprehend what awaits them against Munster at a packed and rejuvenated Thomond Park.

“They have the capacity to put three times the score on. That’s the reality, even though I thought they took all their chances. It wasn’t as if they dropped the ball. That’s the game they play. They are well marshalled at half-back, they have great line speed, an unbelievable maul and unbelievable forwards. They clean pass the ball. CJ is a threat every time he gets the ball and Peter is a threat. Zebo scores again. It’s a good team.”

Anthony Foley’s passing has obviously played its part in Munster’s surge but O’Gara added the quality of coaching, growing confidence and fitness levels to the list of boosters firing them this last three months. The question right now is how far that can take them this term.

O’Gara spoke of a likely home quarter-final for his old club one minute before playing up the threat which Glasgow — who have beaten Racing twice — will pose next week on their synthetic Scotstoun pitch.

Whatever about qualification, Rassie Erasmus has declared his side to be well short of the quality required to jostle for honours come May and O’Gara was equally keen to avoid any speculative remarks about silverware.

“You’re looking at 160 minutes away from doing something (if they qualify) but that’s putting them into a pressurised situation which they don’t need by me saying that.

“One side of me says 14 games ago they weren’t a good team. Now they’re a very good team. They have to go again because Saracens probably have more trust in the bank than them as a team.”