Ronan O'Gara: No 'grieving period' in this new Six Nations era

As is customary with the first Guinness Six Nations after a World Cup, there are inevitable changes in personnel this year. But one position has witnessed a seismic changing of the guard.

The World Cup was always earmarked as the end of the road for both Ireland’s Johnny Sexton, who has retired from rugby completely, and Wales’ Dan Biggar, who has retired from international rugby, but the rugby world had no idea that England’s Owen Farrell was nearing the end of his international career in France – at least for now. Three talismanic centurions who have been the backbone of their sides for the past decade are now gone.

When adding the injured Romain Ntamack, who was the custodian of the French No10 jersey for the last World Cup cycle before rupturing his ACL just weeks before the tournament began, this is a new era for fly-halves in the Six Nations this year.

Stuart Lancaster on Top 14 players and Lions selection

Stuart Lancaster on Top 14 players and Lions selection

While there is a sense that this is the interim period between two eras for No10s, former Ireland fly-half, and a centurion himself, Ronan O’Gara has said that this “grieving period” is only reserved for fans.

Speaking to RugbyPass ahead of this year’s Championship, the La Rochelle head coach said that sport moves on quickly, and teams would have had plans in place for life after some of their legendary players.

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“Once the World Cup was over, there was a planning in place for all these nations and they’ve had their time together between the end of the World Cup and now February,” O’Gara said, in association with Guinness.

“So, in that regard, sport moves very quickly, there’s not this grieving period like there is for the public. When you’re in that environment, you have to go ‘Okay, well these are our potential lineups. These are the players we’re concentrating on.’ And you need action from them.”

The 128-cap Ireland international would have seen plenty of players come and go and ‘new eras’ in his 14-year Test career, and he is certain that the players waiting to seize the vacant No10 jerseys will be “unbelievably hungry”.

Ireland, Wales and England all have favourites to start at fly-half this year, although England have fresh injury concerns, but nothing is certain, which promises for quite a competition for candidates to impress their respective coaches.

“They’ve all had extremely successful careers, Biggar, Farrell and Sexton, and are emblematic players in their own right,” O’Gara added.

“But I can assure you that the people coming in are unbelievably hungry and motivated to do a job and to have as good a time as they possibly can in a Test jersey. And that’s what sport is, it doesn’t wait for anyone, it’s not going to be mourning anyone. It’s next ball moment. That’s how it works.”

In contrast to the rest of the tournament, Scotland not only have a settled fly-half this Championship in Finn Russell, but he is their co-captain. Italy too have an established No10 in Paolo Garbisi, while Matthieu Jalibert has proven before that he is an able deputy to Romain Ntamack.

While it ostensibly appears that those teams may have an advantage over their rivals heading into the Championship, O’Gara is less convinced.

Guinness, the official sponsors of the Guinness Six Nations, has enlisted Irish Rugby legend and La Rochelle Head Coach Ronan O’Gara to deliver a rousing team talk ahead of Ireland Men’s opening fixture against France in Marseille on February 2^nd.

Not your typical pep talk for the players and delivered in Ronan’s unique French – Cork English dialect, he gives a playful yet passionate call to the people of Ireland to seize ‘l’opportunité’ and get together with friends at home, in the pub or in the stadium, for 13 weeks of rugby across the Guinness Men’s Six Nations and Guinness Women’s Six Nations Championships.

Guinness is providing fans with the ‘l’opportunité’ to win exclusive, money-can’t-buy prizes, including match tickets and unique match-day experiences as part of the Guinness Giveaway. To enter, simply visit https://www.guinness.com/en-ie/guinness-give-away.