{"id":211041,"date":"2025-06-24T18:17:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T18:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/211041\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T18:17:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T18:17:14","slug":"chasing-a-test-job-isnt-interesting-any-more-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/211041\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Chasing a Test job isn\u2019t interesting any more\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ronan O\u2019Gara<\/a> is not the reserved type, and previously he certainly hasn\u2019t been shy about declaring his interest in being a head coach of an international team, be it Ireland<\/a>, England or France. But after a season in which his La Rochelle side salvaged a top eight finish, the former Munster<\/a> and Ireland outhalf has parked such interests to refocus his energies on helping the club win a first Bouclier de Brennus shield. <\/p>\n

While he would \u201cof course\u201d still like to coach the British & Irish Lions<\/a> one day, O\u2019Gara countered: \u201cBut time is ticking and ticking fast, as we all know. In the last 12 months, I\u2019m at peace with what I\u2019m doing here. I\u2019m very excited about what I\u2019m doing here. I want to try and go after a Bouclier next season. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat, for me, is the short-, middle- and long-term,\u201d he added, in a marked change from previous declarations of intent, and ahead of next Saturday\u2019s French Championship finale between Toulouse and Bordeaux B\u00e8gles.<\/p>\n

\u201cChasing a Test job isn\u2019t interesting any more. I got distracted and gave energy to that, and it serves no one well. For me, I\u2019ll be the best version of myself here. If it goes anywhere else, so be it. If not, I\u2019m very content.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Gara was speaking in his capacity as pundit for Sky Sports in their upcoming coverage of the Lions tour to Australia, which kicks off at 11am Irish time against Western Force in Perth next Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoaching a high-profile team you have to think long and hard about accepting this kind of work,\u201d he admitted, before reasoning that he will be a better coach from watching so much footage and sharing analysis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen for me you\u2019re growing your mind and you\u2019re getting better. I think my role isn\u2019t to slate people. Never would it come into my head because I don\u2019t have to do that thankfully and obviously some people are given the role of bad cop to do these kind of jobs. But I enjoy it and it makes me better at my day job, so that\u2019s why I kind of do it, but if it takes too much time then you don\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

A three-time tourist himself, beginning with the 2001 trek to Australia, O\u2019Gara believes that \u201ceverything is pointing to Finn Russell\u201d being the starting Lions outhalf in the first Test, \u201cbecause he\u2019s at the right age to get the best out of himself with that experience and that desire also to win a Test series, for him personally as well as the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RonanRonan O’Gara has backed Finn Russell to be the starting Lions outhalf against Australia. Photograph: Billy Stickland\/Inpho <\/p>\n

While O\u2019Gara believes the desire for Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales players to represent the Lions is stronger than ever, the loss to Argentina in Dublin last Friday was \u201cnot ideal\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think in camp it\u2019s a lot easier to deal with than on the outside. Sometimes your perception isn\u2019t reality because inside the camp they want to win a Test series and the Test series is a long, long, long way away. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut, starting this week in Perth, they need to start knocking a few teams over and knocking them over with a bit of authority. So, they give the referees, the opposition and themselves that shot of confidence that they wouldn\u2019t have got from the outing in Dublin.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Gara expected the Lions to beat Argentina and was impressed by the Pumas\u2019 effectiveness in transition with two long-range tries which highlighted Marcus Smith being out of position at fullback.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see the difference between having, shall we say, an out-and-out established 15 and a Marcus Smith candidate. And that if you\u2019re a little bit off with your timing or your placement it transpires into, in one or two occasions, tries at Test level.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Gara also suggested the Wallabies might have more X-factor, albeit he admitted to bias when stating: \u201cI think the essentially the best rugby player is in green and gold \u2013 I don\u2019t think he\u2019s in red \u2013 in Will Skelton. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think any team in the world has a secondrow like that, because he\u2019s a phenomenal player but he\u2019s an even better person,\u201d said O\u2019Gara of the La Rochelle player. \u201cSince last May he\u2019s been targeting this series to show the world because all the world\u2019s eyes will be on this series and this is something Will has targeted. And when Will targets something he usually doesn\u2019t disappoint. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think where you wouldn\u2019t want to underestimate Australia, is whether it\u2019s Rules, League, soccer, golfers, they have phenomenal athletes and you look at [Joseph-Aukuso] Suaalii in midfield. His range of skills are fascinating and a lot of them are athletes and then rugby players.<\/p>\n

\"Leinster'sLeinster’s Joe McCarthy in action against Will Skelton of La Rochelle. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cYou think of Pete Samu in Bordeaux who I coached in the Crusaders. They\u2019re very, very dangerous when they get the rugby combined with their athleticism. They will pose problems, a lot more problems than people think.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Gara also made light of any on- or off-field clashes between Russell and Johnny Sexton in the past, and the latter being fast-tracked on to the Lions and Ireland coaching tickets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fairly natural for me. After a long, extensive playing career, these things look after themselves. He probably needed a breather and he took a little bit of time out but he was always closer connected to Irish rugby. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a master brain, that\u2019s for certain. Spending time with him, you understand he sees the game really easily and really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was obviously a hullabaloo when he was named in the coaching squad because people were saying he skipped all those courses to get where he is. Rugby is becoming very much like soccer where it becomes a management team, when you understand and you trust people you work with. As Sexton was Farrell\u2019s number 10, O\u2019Gara said, \u201cit\u2019s very normal and a no-brainer for him to come on board.\u201d<\/p>\n

While O\u2019Gara believes a Lions tour would have been beneficial for Sam Prendergast, and that \u201chis form up to a certain point looked very interesting\u201d it subsequently tapered off.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do not want to throw a young player to the wolves, and there was potentially a point where his graph had probably dipped, and a Lions tour isn\u2019t really a learning ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Supporters can watch every game of the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, including all three Test matches against the Wallabies, exclusively live on Sky Sports and NOW TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ronan O\u2019Gara is not the reserved type, and previously he certainly hasn\u2019t been shy about declaring his interest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4210,57268,4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-211041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-lions-tour","9":"tag-ronan-ogara","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114739717392799565","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}