There is an evolution taking place in rugby and Ronan O’Gara feels the Dublin footballers are setting a fine example.
O’Gara spent most of his Test career duelling with either David Humphreys or Johnny Sexton for the No.10 jersey and admits it often took him a day or so to get over being dropped in favour of his opponent. As a coach, though, he has started to look at replacement players in a different way.
Many, including ourselves, scoffed when England coach Eddie Jones started to promote the concept of his substitutes being ‘finishers’. O’Gara is fully on-board with the concept. He told The Hard Yards:
“You can only, normally, pick three backs and it is something that hugely interests me as it is so difficult to get those three right. You have to have a goal-kicker… if your out-half is injured and you need cover in the first seven minutes, you need someone at first receiver, and another guy to cover the rest.
“You use the 10 backs each time so picking the right guys is hugely, hugely challenging for the management team. The guys that can play in every position are so valuable these days.”
Looking at the current Munster squad, O’Gara raised the daunting prospect of last year’s finallists going with a bench of James Hart, Ian Keatley and Chris Farrell. That gives variety, goal-kicking options, pace and power to finish off games.
Imagine a fresh, bristling, 6-foot-5 Chris Farrell coming off the bench with 20 minutes to play and the game on the line…
Assessing Jones’ approach with England, O’Gara said rugby teams could learn from reigning All-Ireland champions Dublin. He said:
“It’s not necessarily about how you want to start the game, it’s how you want to finish. I’m seeing that more and more.
“It’s something Jim Gavin does really well with his Dublin side – he finishes with his strongest team. That’s a different way of looking at it and, in rugby, we can learn a little bit about that – about your impact players and replacements…
“Eddie Jones has changed the mind-set on this side of the world. He calls them finishers – guys that will finish the game better than the guy that has started.
“There’s the traditional [idea], and maybe it comes from the older generation, that if you’re not on the team, you are weaker than the other guy. You are perceived to be weaker. That is not the case any more.”
Getting the concept of players being finishers through to the men that really matter – the players – is absolutely crucial. O’Gara feels the task is to drive home to the players that they have to bring an edge and make a difference when they enter the field of play. “You have to be better than the guy you replace,” he added.
Keatley, who was also on the podcast, seconded that. When he was younger, he said, all his dreams revolved around being the matchwinner and hero from the first whistle.
“I never thought, ‘Oh I want to come on in the 60th minute’. We’re not programmed for that.”
Not yet but the finisher concept is not going away so many players will have to get with the programme.
