“Momentum is a powerful thing in rugby. You either have it, or you’re chasing it.” It seems apt to draw on Ronan O’Gara’s words in trying to tease out the predicament in which he and his La Rochelle team find themselves. They’re firmly rooted in the chasing category of that equation. Their last win in the Top 14 was on January 4th, a fact that seems hard to comprehend given this is a club whose recent history includes back-to-back Champions Cup triumphs and a couple of Top 14 finals, the last in 2023. Although O’Gara has plenty of credit in the bank based on what he has achieved with the club, it won’t offer much of a consolation in the day-to-day struggle to find a solution to the drop-off in performances. For a group with that talent and accustomed to winning, their poor form seems a little head-scratching from the outside. It’s not all doom and gloom as the top six play-off places in the league remain within touching distance, but any continuation of the run of poor results would see them plummet into the relegation zone. Saturday’s European clash with Munster at the Stade Marcel Deflandre assumes great importance in the context of La Rochelle’s season. A victory for O’Gara’s side would barely cause a ripple around the European rugby fraternity, but a defeat, which would add a few more kilos of mental baggage, that’s another matter; a losing streak doesn’t take note of switching between tournaments. While the current run makes silverware seem something of a pipe dream, a strong finish to the season would, even if unsuccessful in winning a trophy, help the club to realign before the summer break. Put simply, you take your positives from wherever you can. The first opportunity presents itself on Saturday evening. There are a few parallels that can be drawn between La Rochelle and Munster. While the Irish province were not struggling to the same extent as their French hosts, they went into last Saturday’s URC game against Connacht at MacHale Park on the back of successive defeats to Edinburgh and the Glasgow Warriors. In the immediate aftermath of losing to Edinburgh, Munster would have felt flat on the back of a poor display. While they also finished second best against Glasgow, the performance was miles better and they could have won. The manner of their victory in Castlebar will ensure they head to France with a spring in their step. There were still flaws, but they are fixable, leaving scope to improve again. That is not to overlook the many plus points, the highlight of which was the pivotal influence that the Munster halfbacks had on the outcome. Outhalf Jack Crowley put his rest week – he missed the Glasgow game – to good use, and Craig Casey came back fit and firing from his injury. It may be serendipitous that I read a post on LinkedIn from recently retired former team-mate Andrew Conway, who has set up a company called 5X Flow that focuses on helping athletes and “corporates” to achieve their potential. He is working with both of his former Munster buddies, and while there are no quick fixes in sport or life, what struck me watching the game from Castlebar was the freedom with which Casey and Crowley played. Conway lists the characteristics necessary to compete at elite level, including presence, creativity and focus, but it was the final point that interested me most, “the detachment to free yourself from the outcome”. I think this is a very powerful concept to try to develop as a player, trying to free yourself from the baggage that comes with each decision and its execution. There were times I was so rigid in my thought process and physical motion that a simple catch-and-pass or choosing a running line became problematic. Other times, it was effortless, where nothing is rooted in mechanics, neither the thought process nor the physical dexterity. As I’ve often said, on a training field everyone can be a hero, but it is those that can handle the pressure, or as Conway suggests those who can detach from the pressure, that will have the potential to go to another level on the pitch. Simple skills executed well, a catch-and-pass, a step or a little kick through at just the right time, require a specific mindset. Johnny Sexton, Brian O’Driscoll, Felipe Contepomi, and all other big-moment players, would have had that mindset. While we have seen flashes of potential from the Casey and Crowley partnership over the last couple of seasons it has never really managed to deliver in a consistent way. Individually they have both shown that same promise at different times, Crowley a little farther along that rugby evolution than his halfback partner. Last Saturday’s performance from the halfbacks was another timely reminder of their qualities as a pairing. The tempo that Casey generated, giving his outhalf time and space, dovetailed perfectly with Crowley’s game management and option taking, all of which kept Connacht on the back foot. Crowley varied his kicking game astutely, probing the backfield with contestable high balls, produced a sublime chip over a fractured Connacht defence for Munster fullback Ben O’Connor, while Crowley’s short grubber kicks caused the home side no end of problems. Ball in hand he rediscovered the best version of himself, the delayed pass for Tom Ahern while on the move being a lovely example. The halfbacks were facilitators for others, they brought the best out of Ahern, O’Connor and Tom Farrell, all of whom caught the eye. Munster will travel with a quiet confidence to the west coast of France, having generated momentum in MacHale Park by virtue of a gritty, tough, hard-fought win. The fixes are simple enough and are even secondary to maintaining the aggression and nuance that Connacht struggled to live with for large parts of the game. O’Gara will be looking for his players to find a win at all costs to start to turn their fortunes around. They do not have any momentum coming into this game, they are looking to create it. Even off the back of poor results La Rochelle have too much individual quality for Munster to succeed without producing their very best. Circumstances have aligned to give Munster a gilt-edged chance to stack together back-to-back performances of note. Perhaps, as per my old team-mate’s advice, they will be able to embrace detachment, surrender to uncertainty and go for it. In doing so, they might just find their best rugby.