Ronan O’Gara recalls that the Racing 92 players were quite perplexed about playing for France during his first spell training in the top 14. His return from New Zealand coincided with a revival of the fortunes of the national team under Fabien Galthié and a shift in perception of the league.
e and Jono Gibbes want their La Rochelle players to receive international honors. It is therefore a slight disappointment that only Gregory Alldritt starts tomorrow with Arthur Retiere on the bench.
Since the resumption of rugby, O’Gara has been doing well – his team is third in the top 14 with four wins out of five games and faces Pau on Sunday.
France, which made a change to their team yesterday to bring on Arthur Vincent for the injured Teddy Thomas, with Gaël Fickou joining the wing, have improved this year but O’Gara is seeing cracks in French armor.
“What gives me hope is that with the success they had in Europe, the mental barrier for Irish teams is over for Paris. So you’re going to treat this as a 50:50 game, ”he said. “The playing field is a class field. The best players will play their best game on such a field. There is no influence from the audience. ”
“Ireland has the chance that if they are disciplined they will know they are more disciplined than the French. Your sentence will be lower. ”
“There are potential areas they can pursue France. They put Fickou in the wing, but they will stay with Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack for a long time, and Virimi Vakatawa will always be there, whether with Fickou or anyone else, but the four are nailed down.
“The other places are likely to be won and up front they are very efficient, but if the Irish pack has a lot of dogs, you could sit on this pack.”
O’Gara sees no danger to Ireland in France’s size, but he believes that their ability to create something out of nothing is the biggest difference between the sides.
“I don’t know about Big, but what impressed me about France is the ability to play at high intensity,” he said. “With the X factor players that France has, they have the ability to get tries that Ireland can’t.
“That would be the big difference. Vakatawa and (Bristol Center Semi) Radradra are on a different planet right now and every time it’s an unstructured game Dupont is such a threat. ”
Dupont’s skills are mentioned repeatedly by O’Gara while he is also a fan of his half-back partner Ntamack who remains France’s underdog despite playing most of his rugby with Toulouse in the middle.
“He might be a brilliant number 12 in time, but he also seems like a really good number 10,” said O’Gara. “His father (Emile) was an exceptional player, he seems very relaxed and you forget how young he is. He just keeps getting better, which is exciting. Whether he ends up as No. 10 or not, but he’s a brilliant rugby player like him. ”
Dupont also has a strong relationship with No 8 Alldritt from their time together as a minor.
The La Rochelle manager reserves his highest praise for the 23-year-old, who qualified for Ireland through his grandparents before making his Six Nations debut in France last year.
There aren’t many players good enough to compare with O’Gara’s Anthony Foley, but he believes Alldritt is the real deal.
“He’s a good guy, he has a very good engine, but what sets him apart for me is his attitude and his interest in getting better and taking on new ideas,” he said.
“He’s still very young, he grew up with Antoine Dupont and they have a very good 8-9 relationship and that’s very important.
“He has a great rugby brain. His body fat count and things like that wouldn’t set the world on fire.
“I’ve never used the comparison, but it has a lot of Axel in it. He’s smart, always on the ball, great anticipation. They take age factor into account, I’m obviously biased because I train him and I want him to do it. ”Well, it’s the highest compliment I can give. Maybe at my age I’ll get soft. ”
France (v Ireland) – In Bouthier; V Rattez, V Vakatawa, A Vincent, G Fickou; R Ntamack, A Dupont; C. Baille, J. Marchand, M. Haouas; B. Le Roux, P. Willemse; F Cros, C Ollivon (Capt), G Alldritt.
Representative: C Chat, JB Gros, D. Bamba, R. Taofifenua, D. Cretin, B. Serin, A. Retiere, T. Ramos.
- The final round of the Guinness Six Nations will be live on Virgin Media One tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.
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