O'Gara: Big opportunity for Farrell's men against unsettled All Blacks

OPPORTUNITY AWAITS: Former Munster, Ireland and British & Irish Lions player Ronan O'Gara. Photo: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Ronan O’Gara believes a first ever win in New Zealand is not beyond Ireland this summer but regardless of the outcome of the games against the All Blacks, he’s confident Andy Farrell will learn a lot about the depth chart of his squad just over a year out from the World Cup.

O’Gara, finally getting a chance to draw breath in France after his dramatic season which culminated in European glory, said he wouldn’t pay a huge amount of heed to the game against the Maoris this week as that clash bore little resemblance to what will unfold at Eden Park tomorrow.

O’Gara sees opportunity for Ireland in the fact that this is an unsettled New Zealand side.

“I think we see the opposite now to what it looks like in November in the Aviva to Waikato, Eden Park, Dunedin in June. Everything is flipped on its head now. It’s probably for the Test team to show what they’re made of because I genuinely think there is a huge opportunity. In a long, long time watching New Zealand, it’s very hard to select their team, probably five positions aside.

“You look at the back line and it’s a team that would never really have even trained together. Leicester (Fainga’anuku) on the left wing, I coached him at the Crusaders, he’s a really good player but really young and inexperienced at the same time. Massive potential, yes. But it’s not a back line which is, shall we say, very established.

“The main areas of comfort from their point of view I suppose would be Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick axis in the second row, two really impressive players. Front row is a little bit….well, certainly George Bower is new to the Test scene. It’s a big opportunity for him at loosehead.

“In the back row, obviously Sam Cane… Scott Barrett is too good not to be starting a Test game, that’s my reading of it. I spent time coaching him and he’s a phenomenal player, a fantastic player. Usually he starts in the second row but he’s too good to leave out so he’ll be a weapon in this Test series for New Zealand I’d say as well.

“But, in saying that, I think over the years their strength was probably their consistency of selection. Now it seems it’s a team that will change and does change frequently, epitomised by Beauden Barrett at out-half. It was probably his jersey a number of years ago, then it was Richie Mo’unga and now Beauden Barrett is back steering the ship. A phenomenal player but, like so many other players has, I suppose, one or two elements of his game which can be put under pressure at Test level,” said O’Gara, speaking from his home in La Rochelle as a brand ambassador for a Benetti Menswear promotion.

He noted the downbeat fallout from the manner of the 32-17 loss to the Maoris in midweek, but he doesn’t concur.

“I don’t see in the space of 48 hours why the mindset or the goals have shifted. I remember not so long ago the strength of Irish rugby, according to some people, was the strength in depth.

“Now all of a sudden there is a little bit of panic without a ball being kicked in a Test match.

“I think we will have a much better idea on Saturday night. But also I think you also have to factor in the fact that the games at home are very, very different to Test matches away from home.

“So for me that is possibly the most interesting thing I will be watching on Saturday. I think in the Aviva, or Lansdowne road as it was in my day, it was easy to perform. I think the sign of a real test player is his capacity to perform away from home.” 

O’Gara is also intrigued by what impact Joe Schmidt will have on this game.

“In a week or five days it's very difficult, but you can assume from when he was working with the Blues word gets around very quickly and if it is the same Joe we know for the last 15 years his nuggets of information will be very powerful.

"That'll give New Zealand players an awful lot of confidence during the week. He's a professional coach, a competitor and he wants to win every week. That's very normal, some people struggle with that.

"I think the fact that Joe is at pitch level is a very interesting dynamic.

"If he can put a little bit more structure on their attack and capacity to naturally play, especially at home, I was probably shocked by their change of speed and tempo in a five-second period the other night with a wet ball.

"You can imagine if you get the structure of Joe Schmidt with the chaos of their transition and turnover game, it could make them really interesting to watch."