Ronan O’Gara did most of his contract negotiations on his own, but he did call on one friend for a heads up every now and then.
The former Munster and Ireland outhalf engaged in a fascinating discussion with Kevin McLaughlin and host Andy McGeady on player contracts on the latest episode of The Hard Yards rugby podcast [from 12:30 below].
O’Gara shared a few gems from his own visits to the negotiating table and revealed how himself and Brian O’Driscoll had a brilliant tactic that helped when it came down to haggling over salaries.
“You might be thinking you’re in a really good position,” said O’Gara, “but in my case, I so wanted to play for Munster. Irrespective of what it [the offer] was, I thought, ‘I’m never going to leave.’
“That’s not a great way of negotiating a new deal.
“But look at it where I was coming from – a full house every week, a cracking team, a cracking atmosphere, all your mates. It was a local team.”
When it did come around to pushing for the best deal, though, O’Gara called on his Ireland teammate and provincial rival.
“In my case, I had a figure in my head that I’d be happy with,” he said.
“I would have, in fairness, talked to Brian O’Driscoll a lot about that. He was my confidante on that and we shared a lot of things.
“I knew what he was getting so I’d put a figure in my head. I’d do the negotiating myself and say, ‘This is it’… I only ever did four deals with the union in my time and, in fairness to them, I got well looked after.”
O’Driscoll and O’Gara, the golden kids.
From giving each other the inside track with IRFU contracts to dropping off their gear down ‘The Yellow Brick Road’ so kit-man Rala O’Reilly could wash it, the two boys had just about every angle covered.
