Whether in Cork or Limerick, O'Donoghue keen to make Munster's home a hostile one
Jack O'Donoghue of Munster in action. Pic: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile
Jack O’Donoghue captained Munster on their first trip to Páirc Uí Chaoimh two years ago when the journey to the home of Cork GAA gave him goosebumps.
The back-rower also recalls how beating South Africa A that night in November 2022 proved to be the catalyst for what would be a long-awaited URC title success seven months later.
His hope is, naturally enough, that a similar outcome is on the cards when Munster meet Gloucester in Saturday’s Champions Cup Pool 2 clash as new ground is broken with a first competitive fixture at the Páirc in front of rugby’s biggest ever crowd in the province.
There are plenty of reasons why Munster need a fruitful evening on Leeside.
Their first-quarter capitulation and subsequent 40-14 defeat at Bath seven days earlier was the worst possible start to their European campaign under new head coach Clayton McMillan, who on Friday described an “embarrassment” that has been “sitting in the pit of the stomach” ever since.
O’Donoghue played no part at The Rec, sidelined by a concussion sustained 10 minutes into the previous week’s home URC loss to Stormers, but the pain of that Bath performance resonates nonetheless and there is a collective desire to make amends to the 4000 supporters that travelled to England and the almost 40,000 who will throng Páirc Uí Chaoimh this Saturday evening.
“There's a huge onus (on the team to face Gloucester),” O’Donoghue told the having been named at openside flanker on Friday. “But what we spoke about during the week is that it's not just lads that are on the field. When we win together, we all win together. When we lose, we all lose, you know?
“It's very much a squad effort. I think that's something that Clayton's brought in and it's brilliant for the group. Keeps everyone on their toes, keeps everyone interested. And ultimately, you hope that you get a better performance on the weekend.
“It's on the whole group. So we're really looking forward to probably putting it right this weekend.
“Being at home is huge and having even a better special occasion down in Páirc Uí Chaoimh is class, because Cork as a city is a massive sporting city and they always get behind us any time we go to Virgin Media Park.
“This is just on a bigger scale, which is class. We've been there twice before. Always been a massive crowd, unbelievable atmosphere.
“So it's something I'm going to really look forward to. And I think the wider group are really buzzing about.”
O’Donoghue recalled his introduction to the Páirc as a player, 25 months ago.
“I remember driving on the bus and heading down towards Páirc Uí Chaoimh past Goldberg's there on the corner, the crowd, the sheer crowd of people there, I got goosebumps. I remember just thinking, it was a wet, miserable night and thousands of these people are standing there in the pub, waiting to go, waiting to see us perform.
“I just knew it was going to be a special night. And I remember running out onto the fields, taking a photograph like it was a GAA match, little things like that and just as we went around on the half lap before heading into the dressing room, the hairs were standing up in the back of the neck. You didn't really need to say much.
“And going back to that season, we'd lost five out of our first seven and we just really performed that day in miserable conditions and it turns out it was a massive turning point in our season.
“It gave us confidence and kickstarted us then. So I have very, very fond memories of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, playing there and also going there as a (Waterford GAA) supporter. So it'll be a special one on Saturday.”
With the rains set to descend from the Cork air, O’Donoghue predicts there could be “a bit of classic Munster up the jumper stuff” against Gloucester.
And the 31-year-old believes a European night on home turf in a must-win scenario presents a perfect opportunity for a rebound from last Saturday’s calamity, and to re-establish Munster as a horrible place for rivals to visit.
“It couldn't have worked out better for us in terms of having a poor performance to be able to get back on the horse and to go again and to use this special occasion.
“We often say you don't play the occasion, you play the game but you can certainly do things that get the crowd behind you, that make it a hostile environment.
“Gloucester coming over, they wouldn't have experienced this in terms of a Champions Cup game and I think we can really make it a fortress and utilise that to the best of our ability.
“A lot of people would ask, what are some of the toughest places to go on European nights and one that sticks out for me is Castres.
“Going away to Castres on a European night is incredibly tough. And that's the perception we want to put out there, that when teams get drawn against Munster, they're like, ‘oh, we have to go to Thomond Park’, or now, ‘we have to go to Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and it's very hostile, they suffocate you in the way they play’.
“That's the perception we want to put out there. And that's the way we want to play, that teams almost dread coming to play against us. And we probably haven't hit that just yet in terms of our own performance at home but it's something we certainly speak about and we train for. But you hope that Saturday could be the start of that.”
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