RONAN O’GARA has insisted Leinster is just another team standing in La Rochelle’s way as they aim for three in a row.
O’Gara was accused of mind games by bringing is side to his native Cork to get a lift ahead of this evening’s Champions Cup quarter-final meeting.
The former Munster out-half admitted he got an ego boost from being in his hometown but said there were purely practical reasons for arriving in Ireland on Monday following their last-16 clash in South Africa last Saturday.
O’Gara said: “The pre-planning was that if we got through Stormers that it made no sense to go to La Rochelle because it takes from Paris airport to La Rochelle, either by train or bus, is another six hours.
“Six hours up and six hours back in the same week, you lose a training day. You can’t train once and beat Leinster at the weekend.
“So that was in our planning to give ourselves the best preparation. So we had a light week but we got extremely well looked after in Fota. It’s a brilliant venue.
“The weather was miserable but Cork Con were great, Fota was great.
“We got out a bit. We got to mingle with the Cork public. It was just really refreshing to.
“I suppose, without sounding cocky obviously, just to see that you mean something to them and that was very, very nice from a personal point of view.”
Prop Uini Atonio quipped: “I think they like us more than the Leinster boys!”
NOTHING PERSONAL
But the former Munster star insisted there was nothing personal in trying to end Leinster’s European ambitions for the fourth season running as they aim for the third title on the trot.
O’Gara said: “We want to go again, it’s deeper, it’s touchable, so the reality is in there is a team in our way, it happens to Leinster.
“And after that there will be two others. So with all due respect it’s an opposition we need to try take care of tomorrow to get to where we want to go.
“They have their ambitions, and we respect that, but this team has done immense things and I don’t think we’re anywhere near our potential, so that excites me.
“But we’re aware that home advantage is huge and we need to be near our best.
“We were not as cohesive as we’d like to be but I think we can hopefully skip a few steps by getting a good buzz by arriving in an unbelievable stadium with a full house, and an unbelievably good sod that will hopefully bring back all the good memories of last May.”