Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

How O'Gara quit the England race with 'amicable' RFU conversation

(Photo by Xavier Leoty/AFP via Getty Images

Ronan O’Gara has explained his reasons for pulling out of the race in midweek to succeed Eddie Jones as the England boss. The Irishman had been regularly linked with the job throughout 2022 and his credentials were enhanced by coaching La Rochelle to first-time Heineken Champions Cup glory last May.

ADVERTISEMENT

However, despite using his recent time in London as co-coach of the Barbarians to further fuel his interest in coaching England by doing some media interviews reiterating his post-2023 Rugby World Cup ambition to be considered by the RFU, O’Gara declared himself a non-runner in recent days.

Speculation that England will sack Jones and look to appoint an interim boss for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations and the ensuing World Cup wasn’t the reason for the O’Gara pull-out. Instead, it was his agreement with La Rochelle to remain at the helm of the Top 14 club through to the summer of 2027.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

That decision meant he picked up the phone to inform the RFU that his race to succeed Jones as England coach was run and he shed light on his decision-making process in his latest weekly column in the Irish Examiner.

“I had contact from the RFU,” he confirmed. “It’s England. If you get offered a gig like that – and I wasn’t, to be accurate – then you have to give it due consideration until such time as someone else gets the job or you officially eliminate yourself from the race. That was done in a very amicable conversation this week; ‘I’m not sure if I am making your job easier or harder, but… etc etc’. No hard feelings, we may meet again.

“Events may dictate otherwise, but the sense is that the RFU will be making their moves after the Six Nations, and there was no good reason to delay my own situation in La Rochelle and mess our president, Vincent Merling around. That’s why I asked the RFU to remove me from any putative list of head coach options.

“I don’t believe I was at the top of their list anyway and when you are as happy personally and professionally as I am in La Rochelle, it would take something quite remarkable to change course from remaining here for another few seasons. But you have to listen too.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I have no sense of Eddie Jones’ position, but my sense is that the RFU are well positioned either way – Scott Robertson is available and Steve Borthwick is on their doorstep. The idea that Razor will sit tight and hang his hat on being the next All Blacks coach is a dangerous premise. There is a lot of water to flow under the bridge between now and the World Cup, and there are a few sharks in that water too.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 32 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

306 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ 'England's blanket of despair feels overdone - they are not a team in freefall' 'England's blanket of despair feels overdone - they are not a team in freefall'
Search