Oli Jager: 'European rugby is definitely more contact and forwards-based than in New Zealand'
Jager pictured in front of Thomond Park.
Oli Jager has been cleared to resume his fledgling Munster career with a first Champions Cup start this evening and a chance to further absorb himself in top-level Northern Hemisphere scrummaging.
The Irish-educated and qualified tighthead prop has relished getting to grips with the set-piece north of the Equator since his November move from New Zealand’s serial Super Rugby champions the Crusaders and a meeting with English Premiership leaders Northampton Saints at Thomond Park today offers another opportunity to continue his crash course on European front-row battles.
Asked this week to compared them with what he was used to in Super Rugby, the 28-year-old, talking as Pinergy were unveiled as presenting sponsors for next month’s clash between Munster and Crusaders at Pairc Ui Chaoimh, said: “Definitely, there is a difference.
“It’s hard to put into words for non-rugby players, especially non-front rowers… but it’s tough up here, training, playing and going against people from all over Europe, you know, Georgia, Wales, France, everywhere you can think of.
“They show different pictures and you feel different ways. Some of them step out, some of them stay square, some of them are obviously stronger and then the one thing I’ve found, the biggest difference is just that bodies are bigger here.
“So the contact goes up a little bit more and you definitely feel a bit more beaten up the day after when you wake up. But compared to New Zealand, it’s definitely more forwards-based. We have everything around the ruck, those big boys running at you and stuff but I find it fun, I’m loving it. It keeps me warm on the cold days and that’s all I can ask for really.” Jager is looking forward to another taste of Thomond Park this evening after a memorable first outing there against Leinster on St Stephen’s night.
“Thomond’s an awesome stadium. I played there once, many years ago now, for Leinster Schools against Munster and there was no crowd, so you had a feel for it but that Stephen’s Day game when I played there first, it was awesome. The crowd was just incredible.
“It was up there with one of the best atmospheres I’ve played in, 100 per cent.” Jager’s tussle with Leinster and Ireland loosehead Andrew Porter helped earn him a call-up as a training panellist to national training camp in Portugal next week and a victory over Saints tonight would send the tighthead off to the Algarve in fine spirits.
"Oh, it would be awesome, it would be absolutely fantastic to get that. Of course that's what we're going to go and play for as well, to have that home game if possible makes a massive difference, especially with the crowd at Thomond where you know it's a home crowd, you're sleeping in your own bed and don't have to travel, and that's fantastic.
"But we go out to win and get the result if we can, what happens, happens and we take it from there. We're a team that knows we can front up when we need to and we know we can do it, especially after that game last week.
"We're just taking confidence from that going forward.”
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