ROSS BYRNE has shrugged off Ronan O’Gara’s revelation that La Rochelle targeted him as he set his own for Leinster.
Byrne played a key role in helping the province to avenge knockout losses to the French side in three consecutive season with a stunning 40-13 win.
Afterwards, former Ireland out-half O’Gara admitted they had targeted Leinster’s out-half only for him to step up to the challenge.
But Byrne, 29, was not fussed by the Corkman’s words.
He said: “I’d say most teams probably do it. I’d say most teams each week would probably speak about the opposition ‘10’ so I wouldn’t say it’s anything too new.
“Whatever he wants to say is fine. I don’t read too much into the media.
“I was happy. The most important thing was the performance of the team. I’m not too worried about how I perform as long as the team is going well. That’s my main objective. Overall I was pleased.”
Although he was one of the players left behind in Dublin when a second-string squad was brought to South Africa for two URC games, he did more work than most.
That is because Byrne has been – relatively speaking – been under-used this season.
He got just 40 minutes – against Tonga – at the Rugby World Cup and was ruled out of action for nearly three months by an arm injury he suffered against Munster in November.
And he said: “Playing as little as I have this season. I feel great physically which is probably a little bit unusual at this time of year.
“Sometimes it’s a little bit the opposite so from that perspective it’s great.”
POSITIVE PAIN
But, if he feels fresh, then so are the memories with Leinster losing two finals and a semi-final – all to La Rochelle – in this competition over the past three seasons.
The pain endures although it could be eased by victory this weekend.
He said: “I think they’re always going to be there, I don’t think you can erase stuff like that from your mind, and how painful it was.
“Each game has been different to be honest. We’ve dealt with that at the time but everything we’re doing at the moment is just focussing on what’s ahead.”
“I think for us it’s just trying to fulfil our potential and perform to the levels that we know we’re capable of. I think that’s really what we’re going after.”
They are overwhelming favourites against Northampton Saints but Byrne is acutely aware that the Premiership leaders have the capacity to cause Leinster problems.
He said: “I think everyone sees how good they are when they get on the front foot. And even at the weekend they scored tries pretty comfortably.
“I think stopping them in the first couple of phases is a big thing because if they do get moving they’re a very hard team to stop.”
Leinster were effective in shutting La Rochelle out but Byrne said: “Each team we play is probably a slightly different challenge, in how they challenge our system.
“So this week will probably be a slightly different challenge to the one we faced in the last couple of weeks, in terms of how they might go after us.”
CROKE CHALLENGE
Croke Park should be a factor in their favour, with GAA HQ an 82,000 sellout for its first game of rugby since 2009 when Leinster beat Munster en route to their first European final.
Leinster coach Leo Cullen showed them clips of that game on Monday to give them a taste of what they will expect.
Byrne is happy the Captain’s Run on Friday will be sufficient for him to get to grips with his surroundings, having only been to the ground as a spectator.
He said: “I did play a little bit for Kilmacud Crokes back in the day. Dara Mullin was probably the most notable player I played with.
“I kind of got dragged into it by accident. They were down numbers one day so I went up for a game and enjoyed it so I kept playing for a few years. I stopped about 14. It was always very much secondary.”