New skipper O'Mahony can add layer of comfort for shot caller Crowley 

MUNSTER EFFECT: Guinness & Ronan O’Gara team up for the Guinness Six Nations Championships - ‘L’Opportunité’ C’Est Enorme!

Nobody knows more about the cruelty, and the importance, of small margins in sport than the French and Irish sides tasked with opening this year’s Six Nations at Marseille’s vibrant Stade Velodrome on Friday evening.

Just the one point separated Fabien Galthié’s side from their South African conquerors in one World Cup quarter-final last year. The width of Jordie Barrett’s hand ultimately proved the difference between Ireland and the All Blacks in another a day earlier.

Ronan O’Gara was at both games and saw the same similarities as the rest of us. He also saw one major difference. The La Rochelle coach never saw France winning, whatever the scoreline suggested. The other one, he felt, coursed with more jeopardy.

This is a man who has won two Champions Cup titles at Leinster’s expense, and with little or nothing to spare, and an operator who has been deprived of a Top 14 title by a last-gasp Toulouse gut punch. So, yeah, he speaks from experience.

When it comes to grains of sand, any number could tip the balance on Friday. More than a few of those revolve around Jack Crowley who, in Johnny Sexton’s absence, will be handed a first Six Nations start in what will be only a tenth cap for his country.

This is his time.

O’Gara’s big break with Ireland came against Scotland 24 years ago and on a day captured magnificently by the sight of Mick Galwey engulfing the young out-half and the equally green Peter Stringer in a protective bear hug before kick-off.

Crowley is 13 months older now than his predecessor in the No.10 shirt was then but O’Gara likes the idea that the choice of Peter O’Mahony as Ireland captain may offer the heir to Sexton’s throne that extra layer of comfort for now.

“I think there is a percentage or two there, most definitely. I think there is – maybe I’m sentimental in my old age – like a little bit of a Rog/Gaillimh feel to it where you have a bit of a Jack/Peter feel to it. I don’t think you can ever underestimate that, especially in your formative years, where you are probably influenced by how others feel about you.” 

O’Gara clearly rates Crowley.

He has met and offered advice to the Munster out-half in the past, and tried to sign him for La Rochelle, and he sees a player better prepared for the task than he was in 2000. Players are prepped better now and he touched on the cohesiveness that will come with the two weeks spent recently in Ireland camp together.

“Jack has a big jersey to fill but he is also the goal kicker, he is also the shot caller. It’s very, very exciting on his behalf and that’s how he plays the game. What I like about him is he’s not upset about making mistakes. You’ve got to understand that the more pictures he sees, the more mistakes he makes. It’s a learning process that happens and he will be so much better.

“So, there is something in that [O’Mahony factor], ya. Maybe more so in their private conversations, if he feels under the pump, naturally. They all say you forget what Irish province you are from when you go into camp. You do, but also you don’t forget the people that probably mark you from an early age and I presume Peter has that relationship with Jack.” 

This is a new beginning.

Ireland will be competing in a first Six Nations since 2009 without Sexton and the impact which the Dubliner had on the team, on the wider squad and on both sides of the white lines, was evidenced time and again through his actions and through the words of others.

Crowley and O’Mahony could hardly have bigger boots to fill but O’Gara’s mindset, with his determination to accentuate the positives, was on display when he refused to frame this tournament opener as a pressure situation for the younger man.

Words matter. This is an opportunity, first and foremost. Not just for Crowley but for Harry Byrne and Ciaran Frawley who will be eyeing a climb up the depth chart now that Sexton is retired and on the back of the injury that has sidelined Ross Byrne since late November.

“The Ireland team will be very different because Johnny isn’t there and he is such a big character. At this stage you presume that in a negative way but maybe it is a possibility with such a big personality removed that the other out-halves might find their groove now.” Marseille will provide a fitting backdrop.

There is no running track separating pitch and paying fans who tend to be less diffident in their support of the home team down south than their Parisian counterparts, and the suspicion that this is a Championship decider in all but name will add to the energy.

O’Gara has a feeling that a French team that has long been happy to cede possession, kick often and strike quickly and lethally in ‘transition’ will actually “break out” and “become possessed” by the unique surroundings and the enormity of the occasion.

“I feel Ireland have an advantage up front, France have an advantage in the backs, but the key point will be who can handle pressure moments. Friday night under lights, unbelievable atmosphere. One team will break after 75 minutes but I can’t tell you which one it will be.”