Ronan O’Gara has hit out at an opposition player after his La Rochelle side went down to yet another defeat in the Top 14 on Saturday.

The Irishman finds himself under pressure at the French outfit following six losses in a row, with the latest coming in a 22-17 reversal at similarly struggling Stade Francais.

A 20th minute red card to Will Skelton certainly did not help their chances after he was punished for illegally clearing out one-time capped France flanker Romain Briatte at a ruck.

However, head coach O’Gara slammed the actions of Briatte, who the ex-Ireland fly-half claimed was playacting following the hit by Skelton.

‘We saw Neymar’

“There is a balance to be found between aggression, intelligence and cleaning up,” he told reporters.

“In rugby, you have the right to clean up a ruck. Unfortunately, today, we are at the Parc des Princes (Paris Saint-Germain’s ground) and we saw Neymar.

“It’s a dark day for rugby. To give a red card for that? I’m not trying to protect Will because it’s not good, but a rugby player who does that, it’s quite an interesting gesture.”

Wallabies: Will Skelton backs ‘diligent’ coach with ‘similar’ approach to succeed Joe Schmidt

It was billed as a game between two sides in ‘crisis’, but the Parisians managed to come out on top to boost their survival hopes.

La Rochelle, meanwhile, saw their play-off ambitions take a hit, while they will also be looking over their shoulder with them just eight points ahead of Perpignan in 13th.

Although they remain within touching distance of the top-six, just two points behind, on current form the team are only heading in one direction.

“We were very strong for [the last] 20 minutes, but too weak for [the first] 60. We lack confidence,” O’Gara said.

“It was a mental battle at the start of the match, and we gave our opponents too many easy solutions. We’re too undisciplined.

“What are we waiting for? The game starts in the first minute! I’m losing sleep over it, but that’s for the long term, if there is a long term. I hope so.

“My goal is to win a Brennus. It’s completely crazy to say that today, but with the right player selection…”

O’Gara honesty

O’Gara is nothing if not honest in his post-match press conferences and his comments on Saturday came after he stated La Rochelle were in a full-blown “crisis”.

Following their shock home loss to Racing 92 last weekend, he said: “Yes, there is no other word, it is a crisis, we have to accept it.

“We played a game, especially in the first half, that was unacceptable for a Top 14 team. It is a crisis.

“Now, are we able to save something in a crisis? Or will this crisis make this staff, this team and this group of players “die”?

“We can die slowly for the next four months or accept this crisis. For me, it is important to accept that it is a crisis. Accepting it is the first step.”

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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/ronan-ogara-accuses-france-forward-of-neymar-esque-simulation-after-will-skelton-sent-off-in-dark-day-for-rugby