Sensible stuff from Ronan O’Gara.
Friday night saw Toulouse end La Rochelle‘s chances at securing a first Top 14 title – the fifth consecutive time they’ve come out on top in a knockout edition of the fixture.
With two Champions Cups in the bag, you might think La Rochelle and Ronan O’Gara could take solace in their achievements to date; that maybe some of their appetite for success has been satisfied.
But as long as the coveted Bouclier de Brennus evades them, that will always be far from the case.
This one will sting for a long time.
Needless to say at this point, but Toulouse superstar Antoine Dupont was once again very influential.
More influential, however, were red cards received by two of La Rochelle’s frontrowers.
La Rochelle started strongly but were reduced to fourteen when prop Uini Atonio was dismissed for dangerous play in the 43rd minute.
Matters were then made worse when Reda Wardi (probably now known as Reda Cardi) was dismissed for a headbutt on Toulouse hooker Julian Marchand.
Toulouse are a formidable opponent at the best of times – something Leinster found out the hard way – so overcoming them with thirteen players was never a likely result, even for La Rochelle.
It was no surprise then when it finished Toulouse 39-23 La Rochelle, leaving O’Gara bitterly disappointed at his team’s ill-disciplined showing.
Ronan O’Gara analyses La Rochelle red cards.
But what was impressive about O’Gara’s reaction in his post-match interview was how he refused to bemoan rules around red cards, especially amid calls to reduce the duration of red cards to twenty minutes.
The former Munster outhalf was more interested in resolving the issue internally so that they won’t be repeat offenders next season.
“Why do we do things like that, anyway?,” wondered O’Gara, while speaking to the French media pack.
“Is that discipline? Something else? My fault? Probably.
“In any case, I am very disappointed for the La Rochelle supporters.”
“Friday evening, there should have been fifteen of us,” he continued.
“For us, it’s a bad habit that needs to be broken. I have to write it down to try to modify it in September.
“Without these red cards, we obviously could have won.”
“Reda’s red is red. He broke down and there is no place for that on a rugby field.
“I nevertheless support my player, even if we cannot appreciate the gesture.”
“Uini’s red, it seems to me that there was a mitigating element since the Toulouse player bends down at the moment of impact.
“But the best thing would have been to tackle the ankles
“This defeat will last a long time, I think. It will be difficult to digest.
“But I send congratulations to Toulouse: this team is there in important moments.”
When pressed on the issue of potentially reducing red cards to twenty minutes, O’Gara was in no form to endorse rule changes.
Instead, he put the responsibility firmly on the shoulders of he and his players.
“I’m 47 years old and I’m old school,” he laughed. “The red card must have a big influence in a match.
“You know, if we had been down all evening, we wouldn’t be having this debate.
“Now I’m going to try to train them a little better.”
O’Gara is around long enough to know the importance of red cards being a consequential part of rugby matches and he said as much.
Still, real maturity was required not to let his frustration twist his thoughts after such a disappointing result.
At a time when managers in all sports blame officials and question rules after almost every game, O’Gara’s comments could be a good example for others to follow.
In short: look closer to home before you start pointing fingers.
