Ronan OGara

SOMEWHERE in that purgatory, where Wayne Barnes and his review team are deliberating on Arthur Retiere's European Cup-winning try, I have stepped out of the ...

It lasted a couple of seconds in the Velodrome but it was a very nice moment together. We need a home tie in the barrage, which is the play-offs between 3rd v 6th and 4th v 5th to make the semi-finals of the Top 14. It's 22-21 and the clock is about to become the best friend I have in the world. It would be the last time the entire 40-man group were as one and important that those not in the matchday group came in and were part of the unit. We did get that important width out to the 15m channels in or performance, but we weren’t accurate when we got there. Leinster were such hot favourites but I couldn’t see that in my own head and I was persistently battling it, pitting the world view of the game against the certainty in my own head that we were good for this. Anyone remember Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans? Bourdillon was president of the Oxford Mountaineering Club, Evans was a brain surgeon but an expert climber too, They were to be the first to scale the summit of Mount Everest in 1953. As a kicker, the captain’s run at the stadium was always a very integral part of my matchday preparation but each to their own. There are sixty seconds permitted for a penalty in the Top 14, 90 seconds for a conversion, but in the Champions Cup, is there a limit in that respect? They are going to pop up a short one, we are going to jump for the ball, Wayne Barnes is going to ping us for a collision in the air, Ross Byrne is going to equalise off the tee. We have to be prepared but how can you be prepared when one in a hundred restarts in the Top 14 will go short. From receiving a kick-off and a traumatic last play, the elation of that not coming to pass electrifies every fibre.