RONAN O'GARA INTERVIEW: ROBERT KITSONfinds the Munster and Ireland outhalf quietly confident – and with private motivations for success – ahead of Saturday's Heineken Cup quarter-final with Northampton

THERE IS an edge to Ronan O’Gara’s voice as he contemplates this weekend’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Northampton.

“It’s cup rugby to the death. Winner takes all, no second chances, no hard luck stories.”

If you want to encounter a steely mindset, talk to a Munsterman before a big match. Better teams have won European titles but none has ever had quite the same warrior mentality or sheer cussedness exuded by O’Gara, Paul O’Connell and their ilk at Thomond Park down the years.

On the face of it, the clock might just be ticking for the legends of Limerick and Cork.

Northampton’s scrummagers, in particular, may fancy their chances, having come agonisingly close to winning at Thomond Park in the pool stages. The Saints are a team on the rise while Munster, relatively speaking, are showing a hint of wear and tear.

Before Northampton supporters get overexcited, though, they should reflect on O’Gara’s quiet statement of intent. Munster do not lose at home often and to do so twice in a row is unthinkable.

Tucked away at the back of O’Gara’s mind may also be the memory of the day he contributed to the greatest moment in Saints’ history. O’Gara has won 98 caps for Ireland and landed thousands of pressure points, but the four kicks he missed in the 2000 Heineken Cup final at Twickenham still rate among the most painful of his career.

“That experience probably made a man out of me,” he wrote in his autobiography two years ago. “I had a chance to be a hero and I blew it.”

Suddenly another golden opportunity looms. Munster have won two European crowns in the interim, in 2006 and 2008, but O’Gara turned 33 last month and there are not endless Heineken finals to come.

There is the extra motivation that comes from being written off, as he sees it, by journalists who have rushed to anoint Leinster’s Jonathan Sexton as Ireland’s next big thing.

O’Gara was even moved to pen a letter of complaint to the Irish Independent following a critical column that suggested he had as much chance of stopping the French centre Mathieu Bastareaud as Kate Moss.

“At times when you listen to some of the media, you have one outhalf who has played 100 Tests and another who has played six or seven and you don’t know who they’re talking about,” O’Gara says.

“I don’t have much of a relationship with them.”

O’Gara has always viewed life through ultra-competitive eyes and he is not about to hand Sexton the keys to number 10 before the latter has paid his dues.

It is roughly around this point that you wonder if Northampton fully appreciate what awaits them. Munster are favourites and local pride has been pricked.

“If we lose twice in a row at home we’re not a great side or even a very good side,” O’Gara says. “That’s what our goal has to be, to reverse the Leinster loss.”

The outhalf, the record points-scorer in Heineken Cup and Six Nations history, is kicking sweetly. He kicked five penalties from five against Leinster. Sitting on the Ireland bench behind Sexton has, if anything, concentrated his mind further.

“It’s an interesting position I’m in. I understand Ireland need to develop two outhalves, but Test rugby is played in the present tense. The most frustrating part of the Six Nations from my point of view was that we didn’t win a Triple Crown.

“Ireland have only won 10 in their history and I felt I could have made a better go of that (Scotland) game from the start.”

Does he feel, then, that Saturday offers a timely opportunity to impress the Irish management?

“I don’t think I’ve got a point to prove, to be honest,” replies O’Gara, evenly.

The message is clear.

Northampton may well consider dusting down their gameplan of a decade ago. Get to O’Gara, even if indirectly, by causing trouble at the scrums or neutralising his backrow, and life will be appreciably easier.

“Northampton are a cracking side and they seem to have got better since the last time we played them,” O’Gara says.

“Will they be more dangerous this time? I hope not because, if they are, they’ll win.”

His parting shot, though, oozes Munster defiance.

“If we keep knocking on the door, I’m convinced there’s more to come from this team. That’s what I believe and that’s why I’m so positive about this weekend.

“Yes, we lost last Friday, but the key battles remain ahead.”