After last season’s victory by the visitors at Stade Marcel Deflandre, there was a rap on the door of Munster’s dressingroom. La Rochelle’s coach wanted a word.
What you see is what you get with my old halfback partner. The Ronan O’Gara who provided insightful co-commentary during the Lions tour for Sky Sports is the same guy I played alongside for Munster and Ireland.
Like him or loathe him, Rog’s distinct character and fierce will to succeed have allowed him to turn 17 seasons at number 10 into a top-end coaching career.
By refusing to trade off his playing days, he literally created a pathway for other Irish coaches to follow. He identified the importance of being the worst coach in rooms by travelling to New Zealand and France. He literally learned a new craft in his late 30s.
All of us in the Munster dressingroom following our 25-24 win down in France were enthralled to hear from O’Gara. The giant personality of our youth.
You could hear a pin drop.
Imagine being in his shoes after Munster knocked La Rochelle out of the Champions Cup on their home patch. None of his medals, none of his famous drop goals, nor the two European titles he delivered to the port city, meant much that evening. Even the Top 14 finals into which he guided La Rochelle, and where they were denied by a mighty Toulouse outfit and that insane Romain Ntamack try in 2023, were being used against him.
Rog the coach was in hot water. And there he was, making time to tell Munster players how much he wanted them to experience what his generation achieved in 2006 and 2008.
Hurting inside, his job in question, Ronan decided to impart some wisdom, sharing words that the lads will never forget, making them believe that Munster could win the Champions Cup again.
Who knows where he will end up in the future. Maybe he will never come back to Munster or coach in Ireland. He could carve out a career on TV, if he wants, simply because he is never boring and still manages to avoid slating players.
What you see is what you get with Ronan O’Gara. Photograph: Robbie Stephenson/PA Wire
Maybe La Rochelle have come to their senses and they will never let him go. The family is settled. His kids are growing up in a beautiful part of the world and he has an incredible partner in Jess.
I’m sure, if he ever leaves his current role, there will be plenty of suitors. But I bet his future career will be influenced by a commitment to family more than the bald ambition athletes and coaches must possess when trying to make a name for themselves.
Rog has done that, twice over.
Andy Farrell said it best last year. When his contract as Ireland head coach ends in 2027, he will be guided more by what his family need than the next pay cheque.
Home is where the job will take coaches such as Farrell and O’Gara. If they somehow cross paths, well, that would be special.
The only area of the game Rog has yet to conquer is coaching at international level. If he is to follow his journey to date, he might prefer to work under a head coach of a national side, like he did with stints at the Crusaders in New Zealand and Racing 92 in Paris before ascending to the top job at La Rochelle.
Recent interest from the Wallabies shows he will be in the conversation when the next big job comes up.
Others have followed his lead. I saw Jerry Flannery the other week in Limerick. The Springboks, after hemisphere hopping since the summer, recently rerouted Fla’ and Felix Jones to assist Johan Ackermann at the Stormers. South African rugby under Rassie Erasmus is a functional system in motion. It’s also a heap of air miles the two boys must be racking up.
Johnny Sexton resisted the itch to get into coaching, for a while. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
That’s the gig. The sacrifice required is why I did not consider coaching straight after playing. Some fellas are made for it. I remember a gang of us counting down the days before Johnny Sexton would be reeled back into the fold after retiring in 2023. Johnny, to be fair, resisted and appeared to be settling into the corporate world.
There must be an itch. Not sure it’s going to happen to me. But you never know. Sexton was out the gate, finished with rugby. Now he’s in a prime position to develop as an IRFU employee that works with Ireland while dipping his toe wherever he is needed around the country. Getting Johnny back into the system is the smartest bit of business David Humphreys has pulled off since replacing David Nucifora as performance director.
Rog showed Johnny the way. Your playing record is irrelevant if you cannot convey a clear message to 30-odd fellas. In broken French. He even created a universal rugby phrase – L’opportunité est f**king énorme – after a team talk went viral.
[ Leinster drawing on Rabah Slimani’s experience for challenge of La Rochelle packOpens in new window ]
There I go, bringing Sexton into a column about O’Gara. It’s an easy trap. Especially this weekend with La Rochelle at the Aviva Stadium for the closest a club game comes to Test match rugby.
Many of the same cast of characters return as Leinster’s bogey team – giants of men who beat them in two straight finals in 2022 and 2023.
Rog appears to be rebuilding La Rochelle on the run but Will Skelton, Uini Atonio, Levani Botia and Gregory Alldritt all featured in a pack that put 66 points on Toulon’s kids last weekend.
Leinster players will forever want a cut off La Rochelle and Rog, especially after the 2023 final at the Aviva. Jesus, the last few minutes of that game, a point down and pounding away at the French line until Michael Ala’alatoa was red carded for clearing out Georges Henri Colombe.
Leinster’s three final losses in a row blend into one memory but the 2023 ending was beyond cruel. You can easily forget that Leo Cullen’s side have had La Rochelle’s number in three meetings since. Not in finals though. But they looked recalibrated last weekend, playing unconscious, lights-out rugby against Connacht.
Saturday night will be less showy, more meat- and bone-crunching stuff.
The game brings another subplot to the surface. Sam Prendergast played as well as he ever has against Connacht. Maybe he was motivated by Cian Prendergast getting a stranglehold of him in the early going. You love to see a flanker mauling an outhalf who happens to be his little brother.
There is too much negative commentary around Sam. Rog and Johnny had similar flaws at 22 and they turned out just fine. He’s a special talent when the ball is flowing off hand and foot. I also think Harry Byrne is accelerating Prendergast’s development, not unlike Rog refusing to exit quietly when Johnny arrived.
That sort of pressure for your position breaks some players, while it turns the rare few into world beaters.