Ronan O'Gara exclusive: We don't fret over Leinster. We focus on ourselves
EMBRACEABLE YOU: Ronan O'Gara celebrates with Joel Sclavi after the Champions Cup semi-final win. 'We have worked so hard on turning individuals into a group and then a family," the La Rochelle coach says. Picture: David Rogers/Getty Images)
THE URC semi-final at the Aviva Stadium last Saturday was into its seventieth minute when we cosied up to watch the climax on Donnacha Ryan’s phone as the team bus directed us back towards Montpellier airport.
We had escaped with an inconsequential loss in the Top 14 and a heart in the mouth moment when our returning centre, Jonathan Danty was yellow-carded for a high challenge. There was a moment when the referee went to his pocket. Had it been red, the appalling vista of a week prepping for a disciplinary hearing to have him available for the Champions Cup final loomed on our horizons.
There’s been some debate around the possible consequences of Leinster’s last-gasp loss to Munster a week ago in the context of Saturday’s European finale in Dublin.
The fact that the final ten minutes were all I saw of Leinster’s loss should tell you everything about the significance, or not, to what we will face on Saturday. It is the same club and the same environment, but even if there were only five top players missing for Leinster, it’s a different team. And they had a dozen frontliners in suits in the stand.
That shouldn’t be confused with the disappointment they suffered as an organisation. Given the opponent involved, the fact that it was a home semi-final, losing like they did to Munster was a belt Leinster weren’t expecting. I might be stating the obvious to suggest it could have a galvanising effect on the group or sow a little seed of doubt as to how bullet-proof they are in Dublin – but it would be no less true for all that.
Reactions in the Munster coaching box were very significant. Prendy hasn’t been back there long, but there was a venting there that said Peter O’Mahony was correct to remind the dressing room not to let it be their final, but given that Munster were leaking aura and credibility every team they went under to Leinster in recent years, it had the feel of something decisive. The difference between Jack Crowley’s drop goal going over, and not going over, was huge.
Even playing well and just coming up short, Munster would have gotten both barrels:
Ultimately Leinster were still essentially fielding an international side in a club fixture. They have the resources to go after two competitions and it’s worth noting, in passing, that Munster were also without Snyman, Murray, Fekitoa, Nash and Conway. What was good for Munster too was Leinster only scoring fifteen points. I don’t have much connection with Munster any more but your past is never fully in your past.
I enjoyed the Crowley finger wag. It’s a naturally instinctive gesture when you come up with a peach of a kick in crucial moments, but I have to admit it did make me laugh. Donnacha too.
Jack did get too close to his nine. Whatever about the delay of the service, the only player in that equation able to provide depth is the out-half. Like it’s not that he was going to be short on distance, but it was a beautiful strike.
That’s the other message in it; how many of those has he kicked in training, pissed off that he probably had to go get the balls afterwards behind the goals at Musgrave Park or Bandon Grammar? When it comes off on a day like that, it makes the 700 you’ve kicked over the past few years worthwhile.
Donal Lenihan raised the point here this week if it was the moment Crowley elevated himself to the cockpit as the long-term No 10 for Munster and it had all the signs of that. What was more telling still was the unambiguous message he delivered right in the middle of Harry Byrne’s chest in the build-up to the drop goal. He picked Byrne out and ran as hard as he could straight at his counterpart in blue. That was as blunt as it could possibly get between two number tens.
From the first day I met him with Lenihan in Cork, Crowley was very measured and mature for his age. He sees the game well too.
That Johnny Sexton won’t be back in the Leinster ten jersey on Saturday is undoubtedly a factor because he is such a presence. Leinster’s most ruthless player last Saturday was up in the Aviva Stadium stands. I doubt he would have allowed Leinster’s Thomas Clarkson to run a wild line and cough up the ball after being chopped by Kendellan, instead of just running down the clock. Frawley’s conversion miss too was disappointing from his point of view, and summed up a frustrating afternoon for Leo Cullen’s players on several levels.
The debates regarding the individual and collecting merits of La Rochelle and Leinster are, from the inside, very much in the abstract. Whether it comes down to Hastoy v Byrne or Skelton v Ryan, Alldritt v Doris or even Sheehan v Bougarit is moot.
It seems a nonsense to say were are not overly concerned about who we are playing in the final but it is wholly relevant in a mindset that is focused completely on repeating what we did last year in Marseille. It is beyond exciting for the players. We can be reflecting on the individual nuances and tactical creases come Sunday, but in the days before this final we just appreciate the challenge for what it is.
There will be a lot more blue support this time, but if we play our game like we have all season, we will be a very difficult team to beat. I watched last year’s final between the same two clubs. We were good in some patches, but poor in others. We are far further on in our development than a year ago and have added Kerr-Barlow, Hastoy and Seuteini to our back line from that day. Potentially that is a big difference.
Our JIFF (French-qualified) signings and players are the critical part of our jigsaw because every non-JIFF signing has to be a home run. You need a cornerstone to build anything.
The disparate culture in Top 14 dressing rooms was something I found very daunting when I started off with Racing 92 a decade ago, and it can be so still. But we have worked so hard on turning individuals into a group and then a family. I look at Dillyn Leyds and Raymond Rhule. How they are not playing test rugby is totally beyond me.
If proud Fijian Levani Botia is not getting the love, he mightn’t shift his ass but when he is properly appreciated, he is awesome, as he is right now. Tawera Kerr-Barlow is a serious driver of the group, a serious professional. Will Skelton’s strong sense of team and family sometimes goes under the radar because he conveys the sense of a big, easy-going Wallaby. But he gets it.
The point is we have taken time, energy and attention to build what we have. We have another summer of movement in and out coming up that will enhance us further still.
Because of the plane size down to Montpellier last weekend, we could only bring 29 players in total so the extras were limited to lads in specialised positions for injury cover – Kerr Barlow at nine, Atonio at prop, Sazy covering the second row, Bougarit covering hooker. They were not involved per se, and it was good too for them to see what it’s like to be outside of the group.
This is La Rochelle’s third Champions Cup final in a row. I thought I’d be more wound up at this stage. When you consider our mindset going to Twickenham in 2021 for the final compared to this, it’s markedly different. The familiarity within the group on everything is greatly increased and our base mark is way higher in terms of where we judge ourselves against.
The semi-final against Exeter in Bordeaux was a bigger statement from a rugby point of view than many people think. If it looked a one-sided, routine affair it wasn’t and we did stuff that day that had me enjoying rugby how I want it to be played. Only for Teddy Thomas’s disallowed try at the end, we would have become the first side in a Champions Cup semi-final to score over fifty points. That stuff doesn’t generally happen.
We have threats all over the park, and that gives me confidence.
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