La Rochelle boss Ronan O’Gara is eyeing a move into international coaching but has all but ruled out taking over from Warren Gatland at Wales.
The Ireland and Munster legend has enjoyed a hugely successful start to his coaching career which began in France with Racing 92. He would then head to New Zealand where he was part of Scott Robertson’s coaching team that won Super Rugby.
A return to France followed where he worked under Jono Gibbes at La Rochelle before taking over the reins and leading the side to back-to-back Investec Champions Cup titles.
His success with La Rochelle has regularly seen him being linked with top international positions particularly when coaches are under pressure which is the case with both England and Wales following their results in 2024.
Test ambitions
Gatland led Wales to a winless year finishing bottom of the Six Nations table before falling to South Africa twice, Australia thrice and Fiji once. Meanwhile, Steve Borthwick’s England team endured a challenging finish to the year losing twice to New Zealand in July before falling to the same opposition in November and losing to the Wallabies and Springboks.
Speaking to the media ahead of La Rochelle’s second Champions Cup fixture of the season which sees the two-time champions clash with the Bristol Bears, O’Gara was rather frank about his coaching ambitions.
“I haven’t thought about that to be honest with you,” the Irishman said when asked whether he would be interested in the Wales job.
“Without lacking humility, I’d prefer Ireland, England or France.”
A fierce competitor during his playing days, O’Gara has maintained that mindset now that he has moved into the coaching box and believes that it is important to remain ambitious.
While he didn’t name-check any further nations besides the aforementioned trio, he did add that there were international gigs he would be keen on.
“You have got to have those ambitions, I think, because you want to be the best you can be,” he added.
“There are Test jobs I would bite people’s hands off for. That usually works itself out if you are good enough at your club.”
Despite his success with La Rochelle in the Champions Cup, the Top 14 title still eludes O’Gara and the Irishman is eager to rectify that fact.
“In France, I am seen as very demanding and difficult because of standards I try and keep, but I just want players to try and experience what I did,” he said.
“I got so much out of the game. It gave me wonderful emotions, and now I want to really try and give back.
“We have only won Europe twice. We’ve never won a Bouclier (French Top 14 title), so the attraction, determination and the carrot is huge.
“There are some really good people and really good players in this club. You try and inspire them.”
La Rochelle’s inconsistent season
Despite defeating last season’s Premiership runner-ups in their opening game of their Champions Cup, there is still plenty to work on for O’Gara who rued his team’s inconsistencies this season. He bluntly stated that his team were “brilliant in the first half but shocking in the second” at the Rec and those inconsistencies have been evident in the Top 14 as well as they sit sixth overall on the log.
“At the minute, we are terribly inconsistent, we need to get our game going for 60 minutes, never mind 80. If we are good for 60, we will win a lot of games,” O’Gara said.
“The Champions Cup is a brilliant competition, obviously, because of what it has given me and my family.
“The emotion for it in La Rochelle is special because of what we’ve done. We need our ground humming against Bristol.
“Our force was always, like Munster back in the day, the 17,000 in the (Stade) Deflandre willing us over the line.
“Now, they sit down and watch a game. That can’t happen. It’s the same with our team, but we need to give them something to shout about.
“It is an absolute dogfight because every game is difficult in the Top 14. People who are maybe not associated with it don’t realise it’s a scrap.”
READ MORE: ‘Lack of intelligence’ – Ronan O’Gara reveals confrontations with Bath fans after ‘shocking’ performance
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/ronan-ogara-would-bite-peoples-hands-off-for-a-test-gig-as-he-makes-his-position-on-wales-clear
