'He's still very passionate about Munster': Evan O'Connell on O'Gara camp visit
Munster Rugby Squad Training, UL Bowl, Limerick 25/5/2026
Ronan O’Gara has been playing the perfect host to his former club ahead of La Rochelle’s pre-season meeting with Munster at Stade Marcel-Deflandre on Friday evening.
Having seen off European champions Bordeaux-Begles 40-38 in front of 18,000 supporters at Stade Deflandre last Friday O’Gara will be looking to fine-tune his team ahead of the French Top 14 kick off next weekend, when La Rochelle welcome Toulouse to their home turf on Sunday week.
Yet opposite number Clayton McMillan praised O’Gara’s hospitality while lock Evan O’Connell was impressed by the Munster fly-half legend’s continuing passion for his home province after the Corkman dropped in on the visitors’ training session at La Rochelle’s Apivia Parc training centre on Wednesday.
“He spoke about how much he loves the club,” O’Connell said, “he's still very passionate about Munster so he just wishes the best for us which I'm sure any former Munster player would as well.”
McMillan added: "We've been training at their ground. Ronan was there yesterday, so he got around the lads. We got him into the huddle and thanked him for the part that he's played in getting us over here. And we look forward to the game.
“I recognise his status as a Munster icon, legend. The two teams are meeting this afternoon for lunch at their facility after the captain’s run.”
O’Connell will be looking to stake his claim to more game time when the regular season kicks off following the departure of South African World Cup winner Jean Kleyn to Gloucester. Munster’s willingness to back younger homegrown players rather than bring in a replacement for Kleyn from overseas is a big confidence boost for the 22-year-old second row.
“And it just means hopefully there will be more opportunities to show what you're about this season,” the former Ireland Under-20 captain said. “I think I played six games last year so hopefully trying to push that number up and keep building up my minutes, keep building up my exposure and just keep improving really, that's all I can really hope for.”
Fineen Wycherley will be in the starting second row at La Rochelle with academy second row Conor Kennelly, while O’Connell will be a part of Munster’s second-half side, alongside Conor Ryan and sees his scheduled 40 minutes as a big opportunity.
“It's huge. It’s our first game of the season and we've got some new bodies in, we've got different combinations in the squad and just building up those connections this week, the week after, when we play an internal game, when we play Leicester, these are huge opportunities for us to learn and figure out what works and figure out how to play with each other again.
“So there are massive learning curves and especially against the quality outfit, La Rochelle, Rog coaching them, their pedigree in Europe, so we know we're up against a seriously good side which is what you want to test yourself against the best, don't you?”
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