Oli Jager leads returning Munster cavalry for La Rochelle test
Munster’s Seán O’Brien, Ruadhán Quinn and Oli Jager after the win over Connacht. Pic: James Crombie, Inpho
The cavalry has arrived, Munster are winning again, and confidence is high for Oli Jager as the fit-again prop prepares for Saturday’s Champions Cup Round of 16 showdown at La Rochelle.
The weekend’s URC derby win over Connacht at MacHale Park was not just vital for Munster’s end of season play-off hopes but essential to restoring the momentum lost in the previous two league games, back-to-back defeats at home to Edinburgh and then at defending champions Glasgow Warriors.
Travelling to France’s Atlantic seaboard in the wake of three losses in a row to take on a Ronan O’Gara side with a recent but rich European pedigree would have made a difficult challenge even harder. The return of a quartet of Ireland internationals and comebacks form injury for frontline trio Craig Casey, Jean Kleyn and Jager himself all helped Munster get back on the front foot in Castlebar last Saturday with a 30-24 bonus-point win.
That victory and the expected returns of more reinforcements in the shape of Peter O’Mahony, Thaakir Abrahams and Jack O’Donoghue sends the province into this week’s La Rochelle preparations and onto the cauldron of Stade Marcel-Delfandre in fine spirits.
“It's the first time Munster and La Rochelle have played against each other. Ronan O'Gara is a Munster legend, he's over there, so I don't think I need to put any more words on to how special that game is going to be,” Jager said.
"We just want to back up what we did on Saturday, hopefully be better next week and bring it to them.
“Some of the best props in the world. Big boys. We need to be really on for that, so yeah, everyone's very excited. There's a good buzz after the Connacht win. From Monday, it's best foot forward and take La Rochelle on."
Jager, whose return at tighthead prop against Connacht came a month after a foot injury on Ireland A duty against England A in Bristol, said having the number of quality Ireland internationals following their post-Six Nations breaks and players from successful rehabilitations back last week lifted the rest of the squad.
"Training was intense last week, when you have the likes of Tadhg Beirne, Peter O'Mahony, Craig Casey, Jack Crowley, JK (Jean Kleyn) back. All these boys bring a level of intensity, both physically and expectations of teammates around them.
"Training had a good zip to it, prepared us pretty well, I thought, for what we were coming into in Mayo.
"It does lift us, it's nice to see bodies on the field and have two full XVs training against each other with extras coming on as well. Let's hope we can keep it that way, thank God."
Jager started the game with a stitch in his nose after copping friendly fire during the pre-game warm-up at MacHale Park but was satisfied with his first game after a month on the sidelines, however tough it felt for those 56 minutes before making way for replacement Stephen Archer.
"Kind of shows the level we were going into the game with,” he said of his injury.
"Everybody was on, I had to be lamb that had to take the slaughter in the beginning. A bit of blood in the warm-up is not too bad, it shows the boys are ready to go and be physical.
"It's a good way to go into it.
"I was happy with (the individual performance), it's not an easy task in a derby against one of our fiercest rivals.
"They really put it to us, we had to dig deep. Myself, I had to go to a bit of a dark hole at times to try and stay there, pull myself out and focus on the next job.
"It's great to be back into a game like that, really gets the rust out of the lungs and makes you feel ready to go again."
