Ronan O'Gara exclusive: We don't fret over Leinster. We focus on ourselves

The week began with La Rochelle's Irish backroom staff watching Jack Crowley emulate a former Munster out half at Lansdowne Road. It will end in the Aviva Stadium too and the French club's third Champions Cup final on the trot. 

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 Jaysus, please don’t… 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.