Forget the Cannes film festival which has been running all week. If people want to enjoy absorbing, character-heavy drama they need only venture down the Mediterranean coast to the Stade Vélodrome where a brooding, Shakespearean-style duel awaits. For Romeo and Tybalt, read Johnny Sexton and Ronan O’Gara.
Because while Saturday afternoon’s Champions Cup final is nominally between Leinster and La Rochelle, there should be a twinkling neon sign outside the ground with the strapline: “When Johnny met ROG”. Two great Irish No 10s, two of rugby’s most relentlessly competitive men, only one winners’ podium.
Sport is full of classic rivalries but the pair’s former Irish teammate Brian O’Driscoll laughs out loud when asked if O’Gara, once of Munster and now the head coach of La Rochelle, might have a personal motive to outwit Sexton and his impressive Leinster posse.
“Of course,” snorts O’Driscoll. “He’s a competitor. All rugby players have egos. No one wants someone else to be considered better or to have had greater achievements. That’s the reality and if they say otherwise they’re an absolute liar. You can be sure it’ll be some motivation.”
In the case of O’Gara and Sexton there has been a distinct edge ever since they were vying for the same Irish No 10 shirt. There is also that famous photo from the 2009 European semi-final between Leinster and Munster, with the younger Sexton screaming down at his fallen rival as the game turned in favour of the boys in blue. For a while the pair went out of their way to avoid each other. As O’Gara once put it, it was “the trickiest relationship I’ve ever experienced with any player”.
The permafrost did thaw slightly when they were both employed by Racing 92 in Paris and O’Gara sent Sexton a text suggesting a shared coffee in Marseille on Friday. The timings did not work, though, leaving both men to concentrate on the job in hand. Following a productive spell with the Crusaders in New Zealand, the 45-year-old O’Gara’s credentials as a top coach have been burnished by reaching three major finals with La Rochelle in 12 months. Sexton, meanwhile, continues to defy the laws of rugby gravity, looking more assured than ever at the controls of the smooth-running Leinster machine.
“Playstation Rugby” was the astute verdict in one French paper after Leinster’s confident dismissal of Toulouse in the semi-final. On paper they look a short-odds bet to claim a fifth European title, save for the crucial caveat that O’Gara knows them inside out. In last year’s semi-final La Rochelle duly ratcheted up their power game and, in the injured Sexton’s absence, won 32-23. O’Gara has a fair idea how Sexton will now be thinking: “I certainly understand the mindset of Johnny. He’s a competitor and that’s the understatement of the season. I think he’s also been fuelled by the fact he didn’t make last year’s Lions tour. That would have hurt him deeply.”
Which is another reason why O’Driscoll, for one, is rubbing his hands with glee before this weekend’s rematch. “If Rog [O’Gara] is asked the question I’m sure he’ll straight-bat it but of course he doesn’t want Johnny having five [European titles]. Johnny having four and him having three [two with Munster and one with La Rochelle] would feel an awful lot fairer as far as Rog is concerned. As much as it’s about La Rochelle winning their first Heineken Cup, it’s also about stopping a Leinster team who have kicked on to a level that, dare I say it, even Munster would be envious of.”
The next generation is also looking promising with O’Driscoll’s elder son Billy playing in the same St Mary’s mini-rugby team as Sexton’s seven-year-old son, Luca. It prompted O’Driscoll to tell a wry fatherly gag at a recent lunch – “I said I was preparing my boy to partner Luca Sexton by berating him for a lack of perfection at every opportunity” – but both dads have enjoyed the experience. O’Driscoll reckons that, at almost 37, Sexton is as content as he has been. “There’s a poise and a real comfort about him now. He really seems to be enjoying every game and the quality of the coaching at Leinster.
“The thing that retires guys in their mid 30s is a disconnect from their squad. What have you got in common with 21-year-olds Snapchatting when you’re going home to kids and nappies? It’s that and losing your powers. But he doesn’t seem as though he’s lost anything. It feels like he has more time on the ball now and that he’s happier holding it for longer. But he’s still getting his passes away and not encouraging those late shots on him. I genuinely think he’s getting better.”
Another massive fan is Stuart Lancaster, whose own coaching impact on Leinster’s rise should not be underestimated. “Johnny has got a lot of qualities I really admire. One is his competitiveness and his desire to want to win and to hold everyone accountable to the standards he expects from himself. He’s also a student of the game [but] probably his biggest standout is his ability to see the picture a split-second earlier than other people. Which can sometimes frustrate him when others haven’t seen the same thing.”
Lancaster, though, has plenty of respect for O’Gara, too. “You’ve got to admire any coach who’s prepared to move his family to France, then to New Zealand and back to France again in the quest to develop himself. We’ve got Michael Ala’alatoa here who was at the Crusaders at the time and he said the impact Rog had was great. He’s competitive, he’s got a great knowledge of the game and like Johnny he’s got that open mindset to want to learn and get better. They’re great attributes for coaches.”
While O’Driscoll is equally convinced Sexton will be a coach one day – “He was coaching us eight years ago when I last played with him; he’s encyclopaedic in his knowledge” – Leinster’s more immediate concern will be to ensure La Rochelle do not slow down the lightning-fast ruck speed that allows Jamison Gibson-Park and Sexton to dictate a killer tempo. As O’Driscoll says: “If I was the opposition would I be trying to get to Johnny Sexton? I would.”
Leinster will certainly not underestimate O’Gara’s tactical nous, which will surely earn him an international gig before too long. “It’ll be tight,” predicts O’Driscoll. “Rog will have La Rochelle incredibly well primed. I think Leinster will get it done but I wouldn’t see anything more than a 10-point margin.”
O’Gara, with his giant lock Will Skelton fit to start, would settle for any sort of victory. “After a while it’s all about winning. You have to enjoy the journey but you need to win too. It’ll be about what team can put a squeeze on the other team and which ones crack under the pressure.” The stage is set for an emotional old-school reunion.
BT Sport is the home of the European Rugby Champions Cup. The 2021/22 final will be live on BT Sport 2 from 4pm. Find out more at bt.com/sport
