“Isn’t it weird how it works? Nothing, ever, for two years and, all of a sudden, you get two kind of weird approaches.”
April 2013 and Ronan O’Gara played his final game for Munster.
He didn’t know it when he went out to play but, 80+ gruelling minutes later, he knew he would not play for his home province again. O’Gara had performed superbly against Clermont, in the Heineken Cup semi final, but Munster had lost out 16-10.
He made no announcements after the game but, two months later, it was confirmed that he would be joining the Racing 92 [then Racing Metro] coaching staff.
What is not widely known, however, is that O’Gara had two solid offers to extend his playing career in France. He spoke all about it on the latest episode of The Hard Yards [from 19:20 below].
“Oh God, I had a surreal hour after that game,” O’Gara began.
“I walked in and my head was… As you can imagine after a semi final and, against the run of play, we could have won. The ball dropped in front of bloody Casey [Laulala] and he missed it by a fraction and if he had’ve got it, I think we would have won the game. That’s how close it was.
“So, obviously you are dealing with a defeat and it was hugely disappointing. I went in and I actually met a buddy from school that I hadn’t seen for about 20 years. That was a bit strange.
“And then I went in and a guy from Clermont wondered would I come over as a medical joker for them next season. Straight off the bat and I was wondering, ‘Where has this come out of?’
“Then I met the president from Stade France and he asked what my plans for the future were. He had been there watching the semi final.
“I just said to [my wife] Jess, ‘Isn’t it weird how it works? Nothing, ever, for two years and, all of a sudden, you get two kind of weird approaches when you haven’t even retired from sport’. That sums up how quickly things can change for some players.”
O’Gara had made up his mind to hang up his boots. He would be Munster from the start to finish of his professional career.
He received great advice about retiring a couple of years before he finally did so – never announce the end of one thing if you can confirm the beginning of something new.
“The Racing thing came about through a phone call. The two coaches from Castres, Laurent Labit and Laurent Travers, were going to Racing and they felt that they needed an international element and that’s where I came into it.”
O’Gara believed he would be getting involved with the Racing academy set-up but further discussions with Labit and Travers convinced him to get involved in coaching kicking, skills and, primarily, defence with the first team. It was, as he says himself, in at the deep end but he has proved to be an astute coach.
He helped Racing to the Top 14 title in 2015/16 and, earlier this summer, joined up with Ireland for a short stint on Joe Schmidt’s summer tour coaching staff. Back at Racing for his fifth season as a coach, it certainly appears that he made the right call.
In studio for the latest episode of #TheHardYards with @jamesdowney23 @mikemccarthy6 & @andymcgeady
We have Ronan O'Gara on the phone too pic.twitter.com/XvP8mChKDv
— Pat McCarry (@patmccarry) September 21, 2017
O’Gara joined host Andy McGeady for Episode 29 of The Hard Yards, with former Ireland internationals Mike McCarthy and James Downey also in studio.
You can check out the full episode here:
