Relishing stepping up to the plate

RONAN O’GARA is comfortable in the spotlight on or off the pitch, although there’s no doubting his preference. Twice in the space of a week he’s shouldered the burden of deciding Munster’s fate and on both occasions delivered unerringly.

Moments like these fuel his competitive juices and he would have no qualms about been asked to do it every week. Ensconced in the gymnasium in the Stade Ernest-Wallon in Toulouse he candidly reflects on a second winning drop goal in seven days.

“I could have easily missed, but I didn’t miss. You put yourself into the position. That’s my responsibility, my job, what I get paid for; I love it. It was nicely struck, but I think we probably shouldn’t have put ourselves in that position. I think we were good at times, poor at times, so we have plenty of areas to look at.

“But the most important thing is it is two wins out of two. This is a huge competition for us and maybe a year ago I think we would have crumbled in that situation.

“It (drop goal) was a lot easier this week to be honest. I had a big wind behind me. I nailed the kick last week. Today, it was a case of letting the wind do the work.

“I just had to get the ball inside the right-hand post and the wind would look after it. Last week if I had 50 balls I wouldn’t kick as sweet a one as I hit. So today was just picking a spot inside the right-hand post and just trusting your technique.”

He doesn’t always hit the target as he was gently reminded having missed a drop goal from about 12 metres in the first half.

He smiled: “No, misses don’t bother me. I think you all know me well enough at this stage that I can come back from a mistake.

“Sure, the one in the first half, you’d see it in the 101 worst misses (compilation DVD) I think. (It was) maybe 10 metres out. But I don’t get fazed by these things, you just regroup.”

It’s not all about drop goals though as it was O’Gara’s charge-down that led to his team’s third try. He admitted: “Well, if it had charged down and bounced into my hands then I’d have been happy. I’m joking, but that’s what you have to do.”

On a less frivolous note, the benefit of the victory to the younger players and the context in which it was achieved is an important factor.

“This competition is very unforgiving and the ambition of our team and our supporters . . . they expect minimum a quarter-final and that’s what we’re aiming for.

“The belief is we want to win this competition and that will never change because of the values we have in Munster and because of how important this competition is. They (young players) will learn, but I think sometimes you learn an awful lot from mistakes as well.

“There was plenty of them today and some good play as well, but I think what excites me is that we’ve four internationals injured at the minute and if we can get through Scarlets then it’s all to play for.”

Munster coach Tony McGahan confirmed in the immediate aftermath of the match he had no injury concerns. Peter O’Mahony, picked up a blow to the head, the unfortunate legacy of a mistimed tackle, and was assisted from the pitch but is expected to be fine.

“I’m sure that Peter is carrying a lot more (bumps and bruises) than that one. He’s a player that puts his body on the line.

“It is a huge result for the group to get that confidence to play on the road. It gives us great momentum going forward. We need victories to cement what we’re doing. They see that the things they are working on are (helping them) to improve.

“Wins away from home certainly help that. If we have any more aspirations to go further we can’t be gifting for three weeks in a row.”