Rob Kearney’s Ronan O’Gara worry as Ireland great calls on Leinster star to ‘rediscover his best’
La Rochelle boss Ronan O'Gara and an inset of Rob Kearney.
Rob Kearney has called on Jamison Gibson-Park to reignite Irish rugby this weekend, change the negative narrative and inject belief ahead of the Six Nations Championship.
He has also downplayed a suggestion that Leinster could be the “perfect entry point” for Ireland legend Ronan O’Gara, should the national governing body look to bring him home with a view to succeeding Andy Farrell.
Ireland are four weeks from kicking off the 2026 men’s Six Nations with a Thursday night visit to France, reigning champions and odds-on favourites to triumph again.
No country has won more tournaments than the men in green in the past decade, a period in which Leinster have reached more Investec Champions Cup finals than any other side.
When Ireland contributed a record 17 players to this year’s British and Irish Lions tour – 12 from Leinster, an all-time record for a single club – the feel-good factor went up another few notches.
A fair bit of concern
Yet in the autumn, the national team were well beaten by New Zealand in Chicago and were scrummaged into the Dublin turf by South Africa. Factor in indifferent starts to the United Rugby Championship by Leinster and Munster and the mood in the Emerald Isle is subdued as the Investec Champions Cup returns.
“There’s a fair bit of concern about Irish rugby at the moment within the four corners of our own island,” admitted Kearney, who played 98 Tests for Ireland and the Lions in a stellar career spanning a dozen years.
“To be perfectly honest I think it’s fair enough. The provinces are struggling to find their form and, if we look back to the November Internationals, I wasn’t particularly surprised both at the level of Ireland’s performances and their results.
“I know from experience the season post a Lions tour is very difficult. Mentally, it’s hard to get up for it. You’ve played an awful lot of rugby the year before, you’re carrying niggles into the new season.
“It’s not panic stations by any means. We are in the mid-cycle of a World Cup. There is time. But you’d like to start seeing a little bit of progress pretty soon.”
Calling on Gibson-Park
Which brings us to this weekend’s penultimate round of pool matches in what used to be known as Europe. Leinster take on O’Gara’s La Rochelle on Saturday before Munster visit Toulon on Sunday – opportunities, Kearney contends, for players to step up and give the nation reason for hope ahead of the Six Nations.
Uppermost in his thoughts is Gibson-Park, the Ireland and Lions starting scrum-half and a player who has hit world-class levels for a few seasons now.
“It’s unfair and, equally, very fair to highlight him,” Kearney told Planet Rugby. “When he plays well, Leinster and Ireland are just on it. The speed of ball, he’s sniping around, his kicking game is good. He’s just a constant threat.
“His form for the last three or four years has been up there with the best scrum halves in the world. He’s constantly pulling out 9s and 10s [out of 10] every single weekend.
“Very few of the Leinster players are at the peak of their powers at the moment. Jamison is someone others definitely look to in these moments and if he can rediscover his best form, get his pace of play high, everyone else will follow.”
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Springboks’ scoreline flattered Ireland
Kearney’s concern dates back to the Chicago contest against the All Blacks, in which Ireland let slip a 10-point lead to lose 26-13 as the Kiwis plundered three tries in the last 15 minutes.
“You had a lot of guys not playing a huge amount of rugby and going straight into that game in Chicago against a very battle-hardened All Black side,” explained the 2012 European player of the year. “You could see they were competitive for the first 50 minutes and then just fell apart a little bit.
“Then came South Africa, who are riding the crest of a wave, playing really well just now. We tried hard but, in truth, the scoreline flattered us a little bit.
“Post Lions, it does take an extra effort for players to get up for it. But that’s not an excuse. It’s their job. That’s what they have to do.
“You would have hoped that after the Autumn Internationals the boys would come back to their provinces and find a little bit of form and things go well for them. But it didn’t really happen.
“If you came off the back of a really successful November and then went into a poorish Champions Cup, you wouldn’t feel as concerned about going back into the international camp because you’d know you’ve got that feel-good factor and some good performances under your belt.
“They’re coming off the opposite of that a little bit, where they’ve had a couple of poor performances, poor results, and now they’re having to go to Paris again.
“It’s a little bit unrelenting in terms of the challenges being thrown at them, but they would have known this.
“I remember, October time, looking at the fixture list and thinking, ‘That Paris game is going to be a tough one’, because you sort of knew there was a strong chance results weren’t going to go their way in November.”
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Leinster have enough to beat La Rochelle
In fairness, Leinster have won both their Champions Cup pool 3 matches, though they were well short of their best in getting past Harlequins and Leicester. In Pool 2, Munster were hit for 40 points by Bath, but like the Blues, are still in contention to earn a home tie in the Round of 16.
On home soil Kearney feels Leinster “should have enough” to beat La Rochelle and avenge Final defeats to O’Gara’s men in 2022 and 2023.
“But they’re dealing with different types of pressure this year which is something they haven’t been used to. For a lot of those guys, it is as high as it has been for some time.”
There is also the fact that La Rochelle, after a troubled first half to the campaign, are finally running into some form. Last week they stuck 66 points without reply on Toulon.
Inevitably, this week there has been more talk of O’Gara taking over as Ireland head coach when Farrell’s term ends. It has even been suggested that a stint as Leinster head coach would be the ideal entry point back into the Irish system for the Munster great.
Kearney responded: “I can very much get on board with Rog coming back to Ireland. He’s someone I have a huge amount of admiration for in terms of what he’s done, particularly visiting the four corners of the globe in order to become better.
“But coming back to Leinster, I’m not so sure about that. I do feel that the DNA of a club and a coach and history all matters to a team. Putting one of our fiercest rivals into the helm, I’d sleep a little less soundly at nighttime.”
Rob Kearney joins Premier Sports’ TV team as rugby fans across the UK and Ireland tune into 15 live games from round three of the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup. The Aviva Stadium clash between Leinster and Ronan O’Gara’s Stade Rochelais is live on Premier Sports 1 from 5.15pm. Join in at premiersports.com from just £11.99 a month.