O'Gara encounters McRae for first time since tour scrap

Kingsholm is one of the cathedrals of English rugby, an incense-free, anti-hierarchical sort of cathedral, but no less holy for that - and there will be more phantoms lurking around the crypt this evening than ever before. Henry Paul played as though he had seen a ghost the last time Gloucester took on Munster in the Heineken Cup, while Nigel Melville, his coach, looked like one after watching his side pluck elimination from the jaws of qualification in unprecedented style. And then there is Ronan O'Gara, who resembled an extra from "Night of the Living Dead" following his notoriously violent meeting with Duncan McRae in the summer of 2001.

McRae, sent off for landing a fusillade of punches on the prone O'Gara during a New South Wales-Lions match in Sydney, now plays for Gloucester, having crossed hemispheres last autumn. He knew before arriving that the West Countrymen had been paired with Munster in this tournament - and, by logical extension, that he would meet up with his scarred victim sooner rather than later - and has spent the last three months or so preparing himself for the obvious questions. What possessed you, Duncan? How can you live with yourself? Have you spoken to Ronan? What did he say? To his credit, McRae has not ducked the issue, even though he wishes it would go away and leave him in peace.

His coach at the time of the incident, Bob Dwyer, claimed in the disciplinary hearing that O'Gara had rearranged his player's private parts by kicking him in the unmentionables, but McRae himself always refused to seek or offer excuses. This week, he once again accepted full responsibility for his "surreal" loss of self-control, and politely asked to be allowed to get on with his career.

For his part, O'Gara was every bit as reasonable. "I'm not bitter," the Ireland outside-half said. "It was something I could have done without, but it happened and I had to deal with it. I can't see how he will apologise to me at this stage, but if he comes up to me and wants to shake my hand, I'll have no problem. The McRae thing will be in the background this weekend." Mmmm. The Kingsholm crowd will be the judge of that.

O'Gara will get the bird, for sure, and there will be more albatross than sparrow about the size of the species he receives. Gloucester rugby folk love a fighter - "If you can't beat 'em, punch 'em," runs the credo - and as McRae is playing particularly well at present, he can expect a level of support far greater than that generally given to a mere Johnny-come-lately. But once they have made their feelings known on this subject, the capacity audience will focus their collective attention on Paul in the hope that he has learned to stand tall after falling flat on his expensive derriere in Limerick almost exactly a year ago.

Paul's performance at full-back that day was spellbindingly inept, both practically and temperamentally, and it confirmed the England hierarchy in their view that, for all his brilliance in rugby league, he did not possess the tactical range - and maybe not even the commitment - to cut it in international union. Needless to say, he was not included in Clive Woodward's World Cup squad; indeed, he did not get within a mile of it. But this season, in his optimum position of inside centre, he has been outstanding. Some of his passing against Leicester last weekend bordered on the visionary, and his goal-kicking was of match-winning standard.

While Paul is hoping to re-establish himself in Woodward's mind - no straightforward matter, given the presence of Stuart Abbott, Ollie Smith, Mike Catt and Charlie Hodgson in the pecking order - Leicester are hoping to re-acquaint themselves with the art of winning. Two internationals, the centre Daryl Gibson and the hooker Dorian West, return to the starting line-up for tomorrow's awkward visit to Ulster, and with Smith back in his best position of outside centre, there is more of an edge to the Tigers' personnel. But Ulster have won their last six European matches at Ravenhill - Stade Français, Biarritz, Wasps and Northampton were among the defeated - and will fancy themselves to defend the fortress once again.

Matt Dawson, the World Cup-winning scrum-half, failed a fitness test on his injured calf muscle yesterday and misses Northampton's seemingly straightforward home match with Borders today - a fixture that brings together two former members of the All Black coaching panel, Wayne Smith and Tony Gilbert. Wasps, meanwhile, have named 11 Test caps in their team for the meeting with Celtic Warriors in High Wycombe. Josh Lewsey switches from wing to full-back, his England position, in the absence of Mark van Gisbergen, who is attending a friend's wedding.