Ronan O'Gara faces what could be rugby's biggest-ever commute: Christchurch, New Zealand to Ballymount, Dublin 24.
O'Gara is among the analysts signed up by TV3 for the 2018 Six Nations, in spite of his recent appointment as Crusaders' assistant coach. He will leave his present role at Racing for the Southern Hemisphere at the end of the month, although will squeeze in a couple of television appearances here toward the end of Crusaders' pre-season.
With the Crusaders' role, O'Gara will break new ground: there is just one other foreign coach among the Super Rugby ranks in New Zealand. Given he is taking another - if bigger - leap into the unknown, is he daunted?
"It’s daunting as it is such a big club, with such a massive history", O'Gara tells Balls.
New Zealand are the best rugby team in the world and the Crusaders have been a hugely successful organisation. But overall, it’s not daunting, it’s exciting.
Hopefully, I bring myself.
I had four years at Racing with an awful lot of Southern Hemisphere players, and I’ve coached some of their best All Blacks. You had Joe Rokocoko, Dan Carter, Casey Laulala and Anthony Tuitavake.
Getting to know their mindset, how they see the game and what drives them makes it far less daunting going into their back yard. I may be a little intimidated to a small degree, but I need to hit the ground running and bring what I believe in.
The assumption surrounding O'Gara's coaching career was that he was taking time in Parisien exile to broaden his horizons to bring back to Munster. So is the move to Crusaders a second scenic route en route back to Thomond? Perhaps it will prove to be, but O'Gara is not thinking that way.
It’s a professional game. I see things differently now, and it’s more important to enjoy the now. It was a big challenge at Racing, and having hopefully done some good work there, I've got an opportunity to go elsewhere.
I’m not really thinking about what’s coming next year or the year after, I’m thinking about now. That’s the way you have to be.
You have to be driven, you have to be competitive, and I think that’s deep inside me. Wanting to compete is not difficult for me. I love going into work, if you call it that, to get the best out of players and the best out if myself, every day. And if you look upon it as work or a project in eventually ending up at Munster one day, that’s not how it works.
The man who has ended up at Munster, Johann Van Graan, faces a potentially season-defining uncomfortably early in his reign. The timing of Rassie Erasmus' departure has been heavily criticised by Neil Francis, saying that Erasmus has left Munster "in the shit".
Just before we dangle Francis' line in front of him, O'Gara quips, "well, there’s somebody else moving mid-season here as well!". O'Gara is understandably not excoriating of Erasmus' decision to leave, and reflects on his time in charge.
I think he came in at a time of horrendous circumstances. Everyone understood that it was a massive period of grieving, and it remains so, and he had a very difficult period to settle the team and give them belief.
He certainly did that. They became very consistent under him, but it wasn’t good enough to win trophies. I think they are a small bit off challenging for trophies. The scorelines in their finals wouldn’t be close enough to say they are competing for trophies. The other teams have a little on them at the moment.
With a small bit more tweaking and recruitment, Munster will get where they want to be.
It is cyclical too. Every team is trying to win. People just expect Munster to be winning, but you need a solid foundation to do that.
Vital to that foundation are CJ Stander and Peter O'Mahony: O'Gara calls them "key leaders". Both have been linked with a move away from Munster in recent weeks, and O'Gara is unwilling to thrust the speculation any further. "It’s speculation, I think it happens with everyone. Lads have to test the market. I don’t know if the clubs are serious about signing them, they could well be. Are the lads disappointed with their offers from the union? I don’t know. The only people that can comment accurately on this are CJ Stander and Peter O’Mahony".
Looking ahead to the spring, O'Gara does not demur from the Six Nations predictions that the World Rankings dictate. He does, however, add a postscript.
I think England and Ireland are the favourites on paper. But who’s to say that Scotland might not stop them? That was a big thing to say before, but now they have belief under Gregor Townsend. They’ll be a dangerous team. They play very fast rugby, but it will depend on the weather: will they be able to deal with the pressure on a nasty day?
O'Gara still holds some cliches true: "Wales will be Wales in Cardiff - very hard to beat", but others no longer do. 'You never know which French side will turn up' holds little currency these days, as the last few installments of the Six Nations have showcased the same, floundering French side, be it under Saint-Andre or Noves.
France are, at the minute, at rock bottom. Yeah. Their results and their mood are very low. Of all the teams [in the competition] there is that little uncertainty, that if their mood did click, but it’s gone from a five out of ten to a one out of ten chance.
We don’t know who is coaching France at the moment, there is a meeting on Guy Noves’ future in the next few weeks.
The new staff, if there are some, will be key in predicting how France will go; they are at rock bottom but they have an ability to rebound incredibly quickly.
Ireland should be too disciplined and too organised for France, but if they get the bit between their teeth they could make it difficult for Ireland. From there, three home games in a row and then, hopefully, a winner takes all game at Twickenham".
Ronan O'Gara was speaking at the launch of TV3's Six Nations coverage.
