O'Gara admits he almost 'cracked' French out-half Hastoy
La Rochelle head coach Ronan O'Gara. Pic: XAVIER LEOTY / AFP
'Optimist' Ronan O'Gara hopes La Rochelle's laboured Top 14 win over an inexperienced yet effervescent Toulouse side serves as a "wake-up call" for his players as they prepare to host Investec Champions Cup rivals Leinster on Sunday.
Fly-half Antoine Hastoy landed a penalty with the clock in the red as the hosts escaped with a 22-19 win at the end of an error-strewn and penalty-ridden performance in front of the 100th consecutive sell-out crowd at Stade Marcel Deflandre on Saturday.
The French two-time Champions Cup winners face the side they beat in the 2022 and 2023 finals for a sixth time in recent seasons in the third pool phase weekend of the Champions Cup.
Leo Cullen's side travel to the Atlantic coast of France with a perfect 11 wins from 11 URC and European games, while O'Gara's men are sixth in the Top 14, with eight domestic victories and six losses, although they sit ahead of Leinster in Pool 2 of the Champions Cup on points difference, having beaten both Bath and Bristol before Christmas.
"We'll take the four points. But right now, it feels like a defeat," O'Gara told French journalists after Saturday's Top 14 win over second-place Toulouse. "We need to change something - if I knew what [it is], I'd have done it already.
"Everyone's negative, but that happens because success can create a lot of problems. And [our] success is in the past. We have to stop talking about success. Real competitors stick together and work harder.
"Despite everything, we're in the top six [in the Top 14]. When we're able to string a few phases together, things get interesting. It's up to us to turn the wheel."
He insisted that he was not about 'to lose faith' in the players under his charge.
"They haven't become bad players in three or six months," he insisted. "I bear more responsibility than they do.
"High standards can be confused with negativity. But it's true that I've 'frozen' a lot of players with the pressure I've put them under.
"It's a good lesson for me. I've got to change my management a bit and we've got to change our mindset a bit, and I hope that will result in something more positive."
He singled out Hastoy, whose form has been hit-and-miss this season, for particular praise, after he came on for Ihaia West at the start of the second half, and nervelessly landed the decisive penalty. "I'm really pleased for Antoine, because I'm very demanding with him. But I see a very high “limit” for him. I almost cracked him, but he came back stronger. It's not the only positive point, but it's a very important one."
He hopes that Hastoy's rebound will be an example to other members of the squad as he seeks to change the mood at the club. "It's a difficult time, but in English we say 'when it rains, it pours'," he said. "That's how it is, right now. Since my time with the Crusaders, I've seen the glass as half full. But right now, everyone, including me, sees the team as half-empty.
"We did a good job in Bath, and against Bristol. We were average against Clermont; we rotated for [the defeat at] Perpignan and I was too demanding of the team we sent."
Even so, he insisted, "The players and I have to give more. That's the goal for this week.
"It's not enough just to say we want to win the Champions Cup year after year. We need to work hard, work again, and forget the past. But we need to change the atmosphere. The atmosphere is negative everywhere."
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
