OUTHALF RONAN O’GARA believes Munster’s Heineken Cup quarter-final win over Harlequins has taken his team through a crossroads towards success.
Speaking to Michael Corcoran of RTÉ after his side defeated ‘Quins 18-12 at The Stoop, O’Gara summed up just what the result meant to him.
“It’s a great day to be a Munster person,” he said. “It’s a good day to be a Munster player but a great day to be a Munster person.
“Just walking around the ground at the end epitomised everything about this great province. There’s something special about representing it and it gives you those hairs on the back of your neck. It’s a quarter-final but we’re at a bit of a crossroads today and we needed to perform and fire.”
O’Gara’s personal contribution was far from flawless but he overcame early jitters to slot over the six penalties that saw his team progress to a semi-final clash with Clermont in Bordeaux on 27 April. He commented:
I missed two early kicks and I could have gone into my shell but the boys gave me loads of belief and I kept at it and the wheels always turns. I think I had a little snapshot of my career there in that one game.”
“It’s hard when you’re in the battle,” he added. “It’s easier for others, further back, who can probably analyse what’s going wrong. I asked one or two people was there anything on the place-kicking after 20 minutes and I didn’t get any feedback. It was up to me to fix it.”
Young leaders
O’Gara, who celebrated on the Stoop pitch with man-of-the-match Paul O’Connell and injured captain Doug Howlett, said he was thrilled for coaches Rob Penney and Simon Mannix.
He said, “The pack were awesome, they were brilliant, and the breakdown was exceptional. Our defence was really good. I thought they never looked like scoring. That says a lot for a team that puts 30 and 40 points on teams regularly in the Premiership.
“I think when Munster are up for it we’re a different team.”
The 36-year-old added, “With Paul being injured for so long, and over such a consistent period, we’ve missed him greatly but he’s timed it well, coming back. To give us that added impetus. He’s a special player.
I think it’s the squad that have such a good roll now. I was chatting to the younger lads on Friday night and we need them to drive this thing. Paul and myself have to be hanging onto their coat-tails and just about managing to get a game. That’s the standard we need.
“We need young leaders and they are coming to the fore. It’s a ruthless competition but it’s a special competition and I love it.”
