Ronan O'Gara praying La Rochelle have got the jolt they need with Leinster next
Ronan O'Gara is hoping that his side's narrow victory over Toulouse's second string is a wake-up call with Leinster coming to La Rochelle on Sunday.
O'Gara has been unhappy with his team's performance for a lot of this season, although they are ahead of Leinster by the narrowest of margins at the top of Pool B in the Champions Cup ahead of their latest collision.
The last-gasp 22-19 home win over a weakened Toulouse unit has only added to his worries. La Rochelle beat Leinster in the 2022 and 2023 Champions Cup finals but lost twice to Leo Cullen's charges last term, in the pool stages and the quarter-finals.
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“I always think a lot," said O'Gara after the Toulouse game. "I love sports. From 18 to 30, I was more of an 'underdog' than Nadal or Federer. I have confidence. With me, we will find solutions, quickly. Leinster arrives on Sunday. Maybe this is the wake-up call we need.
“I'm not going to lose confidence in my players. It's a difficult time, but in English, we say ‘when it rains, it pours' That's how it is right now. Since my time at Crusaders, I see the glass half full now. But, at the moment, everyone - and me, too, in recent months - has seen the team half empty.
A La Rochelle rolling maul against Toulouse
(Image: XAVIER LEOTY/AFP via Getty Images)
“And it’s not going to change (just) like that. Toulouse are not the right team to try and change, especially with the team they have chosen. I'm not looking for excuses, I'm always looking for progression.
“We will appreciate the four points. But right now, it's like a defeat! It's hard, right now. We need to change something. If I knew what, I would have done it already. We are suffering, our game is suffering. We are not taking pleasure. But it can change. Everyone is negative, but it happens because success creates a lot of problems.
“And success is really in the past. We must stop talking about success. But real competitors stay united and work harder. And that's my goal.
“I'm the leader. And we will start that on Monday, Tuesday. Despite everything, we are in the top six in the standings. When we are able to string together a few phases, we will be interesting. It's up to us to turn the wheel.
“I think that if everyone improves their investment and rugby is the real priority…There are so many good players who, at the moment, are not expressing themselves, I said that some are frozen' by my demands and my speech, but it will be released very soon.
"The players and I have to give more. That's the goal for this week. Maybe it won't work, in four weeks or in four months. But the goal in life is to try.”
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