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Ronan O’Gara: ‘Do I coach in French? Damn right I coach in French’

The La Rochelle head coach discusses his joie de vivre on the west coast of France, his approach to coaching and why he is confident his team can beat Leinster again in Saturday’s Champions Cup final

Ronan O'Gara is thriving in La Rochelle and aims to leave Dublin on Saturday with another Champions Cup victory. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Ronan O'Gara is thriving in La Rochelle and aims to leave Dublin on Saturday with another Champions Cup victory. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

The La Rochelle Under-15s are training. Rua O’Gara, a scrumhalf by designation, is among a group of about 30-plus players preparing for a knockout match against Lyon. There is a languid air to the session, more about shape than contact, the flow rarely interrupted by a coaching instruction.

Ronan O’Gara keeps a paternal eye on proceedings, parked roadside like several other parents, while another cluster takes closer order on the sideline. It’s just gone 7pm and he has come from Apivia Parc, La Rochelle’s state-of-the-art training base, about four kilometres outside the seaport town on the west coast of France.

When he’s being a manager rather than the family man, he is micro-managing a dual focus: that weekend’s Top 14 clash away to Montpellier and the upcoming Champions Cup showdown, in which La Rochelle will renew their rivalry with the team - Leinster - that they beat in last year’s final in Marseilles. This year’s venue more front garden than backyard for the Irish province, as it takes place in the Aviva Stadium.

I don’t know my limit; I don’t know how good I could be

—  Ronan O'Gara

O’Gara, a record breaking, iconic outhalf with Munster, Ireland and the Lions, has called La Rochelle home since 2019 following coaching stints with Racing 92 and the Canterbury Crusaders and will do so until 2027 if he fulfils a recently agreed contract extension.

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There is no reason to suspect he won’t, as there are worse places to live than the idyllic Île de Ré, which is linked to the mainland by a three-kilometre bridge built in 1988, a striking architectural structure with its sweeping curves that connects the two land masses in the Bay of Biscay.

Traversing the bridge has a symbolic relevance. In his evening commute O’Gara tries to divest himself of any daily remnants of his role as head coach of La Rochelle, decompress sufficiently so that he can become husband to Jess and father to 14-year-old twins Rua and Molly, JJ (12), Zak (10) and Max (9) by the time he pulls into the driveway. He manages it some of the time.

“Over the bridge you will get a completely different feel, it takes you into a very beautiful place,” he explains. “That is the trigger when you drive home, trying to get a balance between lifestyle, family and coaching. It never works like that though,” he says with a laugh. “You have got to be grateful; it is good.”

La Rochelle, home to 80,000 inhabitants, including Ronan O'Gara and family. Photograph: Xavier Leoty/AFP via Getty Images
La Rochelle, home to 80,000 inhabitants, including Ronan O'Gara and family. Photograph: Xavier Leoty/AFP via Getty Images

The La Rochelle Under-15s have finished training, Rua, and a friend, Augustine, bounce into the back of the Volvo with its distinctive La Rochelle rugby club livery.

The final 100 metres before chez O’Gara is a laneway little wider than a boreen, and among its residents is his friend and former team-mate, La Rochelle forwards’ coach Donnacha Ryan - and family –, a telltale sign being the motorbike that sits alongside the family car, a legacy of the Tipperary native’s commuting choice in Paris when with Racing.

O’Gara’s house, protected by a Jack Russell named Finn and a French bulldog, Mabel, is beautifully appointed, a middling punt from the beach, one of many on the Île de Ré - or Ile de Rog, as Ryan teases. It’s mainland France’s fourth biggest island, 30 kilometres in length with a surface area of about 85 sq km squared.

There are about 20,000 inhabitants but that figure is boosted to 200,000 during the summer as wealthy Parisians make it lucrative for the residents to offer their homes as short-term rentals while they holiday elsewhere. Le Tethys restaurant is open year-round and the O’Garas, minus Molly, who is studying for exams, are greeted warmly, without fuss. The other diners smile, some nod.

Winning the Champions Cup has made him a little more visible in the community, but it is no imposition as far as he is concerned. As he left an Italian restaurant the previous evening, recognition came in the form of a polite, whispered, “c’est Ronan O’Gara, le titulaire du rugby Rochelais” after he passed a couple of tables containing a young family and some twentysomethings on a night out. He is aware of the goodwill but joked “sure the reality is that it can’t get much higher, it’s not far off peak, it’s either going to go one or two ways [after this weekend].”

The trappings of family routine keep him grounded but their happiness and wellbeing are of paramount importance because it frees him to concentrate on the job. “If it doesn’t work for my family, it doesn’t work for me.” He does the school run in the morning, but it is Jess that does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to ferrying children to horse riding, rugby, golf or sundry other activities.

La Rochelle’s medieval-inspired architecture is a visual treat: ornate, polished limestone buildings topped with turrets, towers, the grandiose Hôtel de Ville and railway station, narrow streets that funnel tourists and residents towards the three ports - industrial, old and a yacht-laden marina.

In the old town centre, there are a couple of emerald green-tinged enclaves, Noel McNulty’s Irish pub unmistakable with the outsized green, white and orange flags and bunting, and the soundtrack of Champions League soccer matches that greets passersby.

Outwardly more understated, Le Comptoir Irlandais stocks a cornucopia of Celtic nick-nacks in the form of knitwear, T-shirts, jewellery and some well-known comestibles such as Heinz Baked Beanz, Hunky Dorys, Curly Wurlys and Rowntrees fruit pastilles, to name a few.

There is whisky and whiskey, more Scotch than Irish in bottles, part of an impressive array of spirits. The footfall is regular and sometimes includes the O’Garas.

The city, last to be liberated from the Germans during the second World War, is famous for the U-boat pens in the deepwater harbour, La Pallice, but it was the Vieux-Port dominated by La Chaîne and Saint-Nicolas towers that provided a stunning backdrop as 35,000 people – almost half the city’s population – congregated to acclaim La Rochelle’s European victory 12 months ago.

The television pictures made for an arresting spectacle, a yellow and black human mosaic offset by the clear, deep blue water. O’Gara smiles: “It was interesting because we had seen old videos when [La Rochelle] went up from the Pro D2 [to the Top 14] despite losing in the final. The port was a good sight that day.

'Wow! It was amazing,' says Ronan O'Gara of the reception his victorious team received on returning home from last year's Champions Cup final. Photograph: Photograph: Yohan Bonnet/AFP via Getty Images
'Wow! It was amazing,' says Ronan O'Gara of the reception his victorious team received on returning home from last year's Champions Cup final. Photograph: Photograph: Yohan Bonnet/AFP via Getty Images

“I didn’t know the road really because I don’t go to town that often. I couldn’t imagine or visualise what I was about to witness but when I went around that corner, it was ‘wow’. It was amazing. There are times when, for someone who loves the Champions Cup, you feel that it is on its knees, but I think those images beamed around the world really brought it to a whole new level.”

In terms of sporting affiliation, it’s a rugby town. The 16,000-capacity Stade Marcel Deflandre has sold out every home match for several years and continues to do so. There are 10,000 season ticket holders and being on the waiting list can be a lifetime position.

O’Gara explains: “They are extending this year, but it is still only adding capacity for an extra 500. They are trying to make it a high-end service to a select market because there is a clientele. Working class is looked after, it is not elitist.

“They never thought they would win Europe. They have obviously dreamed of winning a Bouclier [de Brennus, the trophy for the Top 14 title], which is still the plan, but to actually scale Europe was something that wouldn’t have been on the radar.”

The Irishman is familiar with the practice of unswerving fealty to a team from his days as a player with Munster. La Rochelle’s faithful mimic that devotion but it requires nurturing to retain a strong identity between supporters and players, and one of the tenets is the importance of a parochial flavour to the playing roster.

“All successful teams are driven by key players from the local area. When I got the job [of head coach], I brought up the two academy coaches [Romain Carmignani and Sébastien Boboul] because they had been in that role for five or six years and they needed a promotion. They knew a lot of the younger players.

I give the example which people find fascinating. ‘Do you coach in French?’ Damn right I coach in French ... it makes a difference

—  Ronan O'Gara

“As much as you think you can have a team of Tawera Kerr Barlows and Will Skeltons, you can’t. We have been big on that. [Grégory] Alldritt and [Pierre] Bourgarit came into the academy as teenagers. They are from Auch, but they are considered locals by the fans.

“Thomas Lavault is local, the Boudehent brothers (Paul and Pierre) are local, Jules Favre is local, Thomas Berjon is local, Jules Lebail is local, Matthias Haddad is local, so there are a lot of players who really care about playing for La Rochelle.

“Romain Sazy is from Montauban but has been here for 13 years, Levani Botia, 10 years, Uini Atonio 11 years; they are the three amigos, the heartbeat of the team. We have a good group. People at home find it hard to understand the French model, and with good reason.

“You could have a guy in the changing room who has his locker and next to him the guy could change every season so why would he get tight to him, why would he care about him? Obviously when you are trying to create a vision or build a project, stability is very important. The big emphasis for me is recruitment, it’s huge. That’s why the Test game is so different to the club game, it is a business.

“There is a huge emphasis on the people that you sign. What kick-started it well for me was Brice Dulin, who I coached in Racing and got on really well with; he left Paris to come here, left everything. He was my first real signing. He’s French. Brice will say the same thing to Greg Alldritt that he will say to a young kid.”

'We try to make it real, in that you are yourself and you don’t put on a mask," says Ronan O'Gara of the atmosphere he aims to create among his squad. Photograph: Valentine Chapus/AFP via Getty Images
'We try to make it real, in that you are yourself and you don’t put on a mask," says Ronan O'Gara of the atmosphere he aims to create among his squad. Photograph: Valentine Chapus/AFP via Getty Images

Culture and identity are buzz words that ring hollow without substance. O’Gara established his standards, but it is the players that drive them. It has to be that way, otherwise there is too much friction and time wasted on going back and forth into arguing over what’s acceptable and what’s not.

“I give the example which people find fascinating. ‘Do you coach in French?’ Damn right I coach in French! If you had Lauren Labit and Lauren Travers coaching in Munster and they coached in French you would be going, ‘look at those disrespectful f*****s.’ Every meeting is in French, we don’t repeat anything in English.

“Guys have to get lessons; guys have to get private lessons and they have to get up to speed. The first three years Kerr Barlow had broken, pidgin French at best, now he is able to motivate people in French and hold the room. It makes a difference because the French players go ‘this guy is doing this, so I will give him a little bit more.’

“We try to make it real, in that you are yourself and you don’t put on a mask. We have a lot of fun. That’s important to the Islands boys: Will Skelton, Uini [Atonio], Levani [Botia] aren’t into being grumpy; it is not in their psyche, their make-up.”

Apivia Parc is close to the stadium and a pleasant four-kilometre stroll from the centre of town; most of the journey can be negotiated on a causeway that skirts the bay.

The Stade Marcel Deflandre, la Rochelle's home ground. Photograph: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images
The Stade Marcel Deflandre, la Rochelle's home ground. Photograph: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

It’s a little after 11am on Thursday morning and, having completed their “muscle activation” warm-up, players briefly retreat to the changing room to switch footwear. One of the first to emerge is former Munster, Racing 92 and Ireland secondrow Ryan, who accepted O’Gara’s invitation to join him as an assistant coach before last season after four years as a player in Paris.

Players offer a stranger a hand, a greeting and a smile as they filter past. Coaches, too, in former Springbok prop Guthro Steenkamp, who has responsibility for the La Rochelle scrum, and Sean Dougall, once of Munster and who will step up from academy to the senior coaching group next season. Side note: Will Skelton is gargantuan.

The players are used to unfamiliar faces watching a training session and one that piqued their interest when appraised of his sporting pedigree was former Dublin footballer and The Irish Times GAA columnist Jonny Cooper, who had been a guest on the Monday and Tuesday of that week. Another was Gloucester’s head coach George Skivington.

Atonio is a messer, squirting water and blindsiding team-mates with a tackle shield, all the while shouting the odds. No one takes umbrage, it could be his 145kg body composition but what’s noticeable is that a little fun doesn’t interfere with the staccato bursts of activity that carry a focused intensity. O’Gara doesn’t permit full contact in training, it rarely broaches 60 per cent capacity, thereby preserving freshness for game day.

Coloured bibs differentiate between upcoming commitments: yellow for those who will play against Montpellier; black for the Leinster match, including former Connacht and Ireland international Ultan Dillane, who has had a brilliant season at blindside flanker; and later orange, as the Espoirs arrive for a run-out against the frontline seniors. Among the former is Ireland Under-20 international Ike Anagu.

O’Gara occasionally interjects to make a point to an individual or the collective, in one instance engulfed by the black bibs as they watch some footage on an iPad. When turning the subject to him, the obvious starting point is how he’s changed in his rugby outlook, his philosophy.

He laughs: “I am definitely so different to when I played, which is only natural. I have to keep a check on humour and mood, that would be a work-on, but in that respect, it was invaluable spending time with Razor [Scott Robertson, Crusaders coach, who will take over the All Blacks after the World Cup].

“He’s just so positive that he sees opportunity in everything and that I suppose the doubting Thomas was beaten out of me over there, [getting down about] stuff like injuries and yellow [and] red cards. You can set up a player to succeed by just creating that opportunity because every time a young Crusader played, he played the game of his life for Razor.

Ronan O'Gara and some of his children pose with the Super Rugby trophy won by Crusaders, where he was assistant coach, in 2019. Photograph: Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images
Ronan O'Gara and some of his children pose with the Super Rugby trophy won by Crusaders, where he was assistant coach, in 2019. Photograph: Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images

“I remember saying to him [Robertson] on the Friday night after the Captain’s Run that if the Hurricanes were ever to beat us it’ll be tomorrow, and he went, ‘don’t you ever f******g say that’. I knew by his eyes that he was serious because he’s not serious a lot.

O’Gara has fostered an esprit de corps, directly challenging the group on his arrival at La Rochelle by asking, ‘are we team-mates or are we brothers?’ He recalled: “A squad player, a prop, answered and said, ‘we are team-mates.’ I thanked him for his honesty because we didn’t act like brothers, and didn’t have [enough] values of respect or caring.”

He had to get rid of a few “bad eggs” and removed what he viewed as barriers to full integration. “Before I arrived it was staff at this table and players at that table. For me that’s nonsense. We eat together. There’ll be distance anyway because of their age and you are their coach. You spend a lot of time in French rugby together.

“You know you have to care because the game, it’s loaded and saturated with data but there is no data for caring about the person next to you on a pitch during a match. There are days when I think coaching is overrated and then there are days when I think it is underappreciated. It’s a fascinating subject. You can really help players get better.

“If you don’t respect that, I think you are missing a trick. I genuinely believe that every day is a learning day. When you understand that, you can get a lot of growth in your team and yourself and in other people. I put a big emphasis on that.

“One of the things that I am learning as I go along is that we don’t know our limit. I don’t know my limit; I don’t know how good I could be, and I tell them that. I genuinely feel that if we could get a good body of work into them, there is a cracking team there.

“I would die to coach at Test level, it’s so exciting. At club level we are together so often, our standards should be extremely high. It won’t be working if I am the only one driving it. All the best teams are driven by the players. That would be a big thing. What’s great is that these guys are taking hold and steering.”

It’s a 50/50 game ... I am not one of these guys who believes Leinster have a huge advantage [by playing in Dublin]. ... We are going there to win

—  Ronan O'Gara on the Champions Cup final

O’Gara points to the fact that once the game is in play, a coach’s capacity to change is very limited. He argues that there are no masterstrokes. Even at halftime, anything more than a couple of brief points is overloading. There are times when he says nothing, no interest in talking for the sake of it.

In looking at Saturday’s final, a point of difference from last year is the presence of Leinster backs’ coach Andrew Goodman, with whom O’Gara coached at the Crusaders and whom he rates very highly. “He will have something very, very good up his sleeve.”

Ronan O’Gara and Leo Cullen were all smiles on the pitch before last year's final in Marseilles. Photograph: David Rogers/Getty Images
Ronan O’Gara and Leo Cullen were all smiles on the pitch before last year's final in Marseilles. Photograph: David Rogers/Getty Images

The Irishman is adamant that he doesn’t need to play mind games. “I have belief in what we do. People would probably think I am crazy, but it is a 50/50 game in my head. We are going there to win; we have won the last two games against them. If we play our best rugby, we can get what we want out of it, which isn’t arrogant.

“I am genuinely excited. It’s in Ireland, in Lansdowne Road, I have a lot of history there too. I love that place. I am not one of these guys who believes [Leinster] have a huge advantage. They don’t. It’s a rugby pitch, there will be a referee on there. It’ll take shape quickly at a ferocious pace.”

He points to La Rochelle’s superior power game and the quality of his bench, potentially key components in maintaining the French club’s edge but also deriving confidence from the measured class of the semi-final win over the Exeter Chiefs, where power, speed and vision were byproducts of players expressing themselves and doing so with a smile.

The blended careers of Ronan O’Gara the player and Ronan O’Gara the head coach share trace elements. A resolve forged in adversity and disappointment, the dedication and intelligence to make the necessary improvements facilitated the transformation into an outstanding player and now coach. The trinkets of success followed.

Dublin is another signpost on a journey that someday will extend beyond La Rochelle. For now though, there is nowhere else O’Gara would rather be.