The so-called Ronan O’Gara derby lived up to its billing and then some, but even by Munster standards you could hardly have scripted its denouement. Then again, this is Munster. So, maybe it was preordained that the current occupant of the fabled ‘10’ red jersey would keep his cool as a titanic collision reached boiling point to drop into the pocket and land the drop goal which ultimately proved decisive. And nobody appreciated the irony of this more than the man himself.
“I’m obviously gutted but I think you’ve got to compliment and congratulate Munster on how they constructed their victory,” said O’Gara magnanimously not long after visiting the Munster dressingroom to congratulate his former team and wish them the best.
Then he smiled wryly and added: “It was pretty ironic how they won it, getting it out to eight points with a peach of a drop goal. I was thinking ‘that little f**ker’.”
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This was also the fellow Cork outhalf whom O’Gara once tried to sign for La Rochelle, albeit he didn’t hold back when giving a fairly stinging critique of Jack Crowley after missing out to Sam Prendergast at the start of Ireland’s Six Nations campaign.
“I’ve seen a lot of good drop goals but that’s a top-class one at a moment that just probably takes the decision away from the referee. With a five-point game maybe you’re thinking okay we’re going to have a chance.
“But it was a brilliant kick. [Craig] Casey kicked brilliantly. They took their opportunities, we didn’t. You can analyse deeply into it but that’s a pretty fast summation of it.”
O’Gara had met several former team-mates for dinner on Friday night along with one of his assistants, Donnacha Ryan, and again for breakfast on the morning of the match. All in all, renewing so many friendships from his dual Champions Cup-winning playing days while plotting Munster’s downfall and seeing his faltering two-time champions come up a point short must have made the ‘Derby’ named after him a wild emotional ride.
Asked if the game had felt strange, O’Gara said: “No, it didn’t.” But then, as if to underline his conflicting thoughts, O’Gara immediately countered: “I don’t miss playing but, yeah, other times, it did. For a second I thought Jack Crowley was with me then you’re like ... ‘f**k, that’s the wrong team’,” he admitted with another wry chuckle, before then revealing his disappointment.
“I was hoping that would turn our season, but we have to go back to the drawing board and see what can be resurrected.”
Yet the La Rochelle supporters in another 16,700-capacity crowd in the atmospheric stadium had proudly stayed with their team. Thousands also remained long after the full-time whistle as both teams conducted laps of the pitch and both sets of supporters celebrated an epic occasion together.
“It was brilliant,” said O’Gara of the whole carnival-like day which did, actually, also feature a carnival adjacent to the port in this beautiful city on the Atlantic coast under clear blue skies.
“When I came here, I tried to bring so much of what’s good about Munster to La Rochelle. I knew that the two supporters would get on like a house on fire, that they’d have a great day. The Munster supporters are proud, the La Rochelle supporters are very proud, they’ve very decent, they know their rugby, same as Munster people. I always knew there was a huge performance in Munster today.
“It’s hard when you’re in live sport to know what the real standard was like. You have to look back at the video to see. Was it a top-quality game? It can’t be from our point of view because we made silly errors and we lost key moments but you have to admire the team in red off the pitch and on the pitch, they were fantastic.”
O’Gara had a point in that this encounter was too stop-start as the Italian referee and TMO underwent prolonged reviews, but there was no doubting its compelling and drama-filled ride from the first minute to the last.
On an unforgettable day, before kick-off O’Gara had prompted the home club to pay tribute to the late Mick O’Dwyer on the big screens after the GAA legend’s passing on Thursday.
“I thought it would be good for the Munster people to see that. He was buried today and I’m sure if I was in Ireland I’d be there or taking a moment out to appreciate everything he’s done for Irish sport. A lot of good Munster people are from a GAA background. I met Gaillimh [Mick Galwey] this morning and Gaillimh planted the idea with me, so he still works his magic wherever he goes.”
As ever, even in the immediate aftermath of a crushing defeat which extended La Rochelle’s winless run to nine games, O’Gara was good value in his searingly honest and open way.
“We’re in free fall,” he conceded with typical candour, with La Rochelle sitting 10th in the Top 14 and facing a desperate fight to make the top eight and this competition next season, never mind this season’s French championship playoffs.
“So, for Top 14, it’s the same standard if not better with teams coming. The opposition isn’t going to get any weaker. We’re missing a key ingredient which is confidence and belief but we have to find that quickly.”
