{"id":55490,"date":"2026-04-09T07:22:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T07:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=55490"},"modified":"2026-04-09T07:22:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T07:22:03","slug":"c15dp218xgjoat_mediumrssat_campaignrss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/04\/09\/c15dp218xgjoat_mediumrssat_campaignrss\/","title":{"rendered":"Ulster v La Rochelle: Ronan O&#8217;Gara praises Irish province&#8217;s resurgence and fly-half Jack Murphy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">While O&#8217;Gara admits to having just &#8220;half an eye&#8221; on the Challenge Cup, a return to Belfast will perhaps stir memories of the legendary Irish fly-half&#8217;s youth. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In 2000, he scored every point for Munster in a 21-16 Interprovincial Championship win at Ulster&#8217;s Ravenhill home, outshining Ireland fly-half rival David Humphreys in the process. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Twenty six years on, the 49-year-old is now attempting to bring La Rochelle&#8217;s next generation into what he calls the club&#8217;s &#8220;rebuild mode&#8221;.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Last week against Newcastle, all but one of his starting pack were 23 years old or younger. He started a 19-year-old (Diego Jurd) at fly-half and another (Gabin Garault) at hooker. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Still contending with a lengthy injury list that has robbed him of several seasoned campaigners, he has indicated a similar make-up for the Affidea Stadium contest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Ulster, chasing their first major silverware in 20 years, are expected to go stronger with head coach Richie Murphy having packed his side with experience and Irish internationals for last week&#8217;s 28-24 victory over Ospreys. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We know it&#8217;s going to go up ten-fold this weekend, it&#8217;s a different calibre of opposition with a different support base and different intimidation,&#8221; said O&#8217;Gara, whose side beat Ulster home and away in the 2022-23 Champions Cup. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It&#8217;s part of the learning curve for every young player so it&#8217;ll be challenging at times on Friday, but when we&#8217;re on the ropes we need to stay in the fight against Ulster.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;That&#8217;s key because they are a hugely improved side, but they still haven&#8217;t arrived at being able to consistently put away big teams. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We are a big team even though we&#8217;d like to be a big group and there&#8217;s a difference. We have to transfer the big team into the big group and that&#8217;s the challenge this weekend for us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Ulster #Rochelle #Ronan #OGara #praises #Irish #provinces #resurgence #flyhalf #Jack #Murphy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While O&#8217;Gara admits to having just &#8220;half an eye&#8221; on the Challenge Cup, a return to Belfast will perhaps stir&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55492,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55490\/revisions\/55492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}