Search icon

Rugby

27th Apr 2017

Ronan O’Gara’s praise for Chris Farrell will get each and every Munster fan excited

He's a big fan

Patrick McCarry

The Ulster native should be an exciting addition to a revived Munster team.

The future of Munster and Leinster and how players perceive the media is covered by the lads and Ronan O’Gara comments on three Munster signings that should spark their backline.

A brand new episode of The Hard Yards has landed with O’Gara, Kev McLaughlin, SportsJOE’s Pat McCarry joining host Andy McGeady this week.

While many have lauded Leinster for their signings of Scott Fardy and James Lowe, O’Gara [from 20:00 below] offers a glowing take on three Munster recruits for 2017/18 – Chris Farrell, James Hart and old/new boy JJ Hanrahan.

On Farrell, the Racing 92 coach says:

“I think we’ll see him in the red and green jersey next season.

“At six-foot-five and with his variety of skills, he has something to offer at national level that we haven’t seen. The guy is the same size as Joe Rokocoko or Donnacha Ryan and he’s playing in the centre.

“His passing game, left to right and right to left, is really good. He’s working with an under the radar coach in Mike Prendergast down at Grenoble and he has been mentoring him for two years. He has been drilling skills into Chris; he’s not just a gym monkey.”

We also hear from Ulster and Ireland winger Andrew Trimble about what it’s really like dealing with the media.

1:00 – The Mike Ross appreciation society
3:20 – The task of replacing John Hayes
4:35 – Kev on the impact Mike Ross had on his career
7:07 – What Munster learned from that defeat to Saracens
10:51 – Did Munster have a Plan B?
13:20 – What will Leinster take away from their defeat to Clermont?
15:25 – ROG on the Munster players who drove them on after the Northampton game in 2000
16:40 – Kev’s brilliant insight into a broken Leinster dressing room in 2008
20:00 – Ronan’s view on Munster’s new signings Chris Farrell, James Hart and JJ Hanrahan
24:15 – Kev on Leinster and Munster taking it to the next level and challenging Saracens
26:28 – Andrew Trimble’s refreshingly honest words about how players deal with the media
29:00 – Kev on how the players are prepped for an interview
32:30 – ROG on his dealings with the media
34:50 – ROG on how the media portrayed him during his playing days
38:40 – The boys speak about how obsessed they were with player ratings
42:50 – Do the guys accept that the media and the teams need each other?
48:55 – Hayley O’Connor from Ladbrokes on this week’s Pro12 action