Former team mate on the secret behind Ronan O'Gara's emergence as a great rugby coach

As a player Ronan O’Gara knew a thing or two about successful conversions.

There were the kicks that helped Munster land two Heineken Cups and the ones that guided Ireland towards the 2009 Grand Slam, its first in 61 years.

But the biggest conversion of ROG’s career has been his transition from world class player to world class coach.

Few top players make that leap.

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But the Cork man is the exception, after helping Racing to a Top 14 title, when he was an assistant coach, Crusaders to two Super Rugby Crowns - again as an assistant - and La Rochelle to two Heineken Cups.

The scourge of Leinster, he is plotting their downfall again this weekend in the Champions Cup, and former Ireland and Lions team mate, Rob Kearney, has little doubt he can upset the odds once again.

Kearney was with O’Gara on that 2009 Grand Slam journey - also soldiering with him on that summer’s Lions tour.

He knows what makes the man tick.

Kearney said: “What I admired most about ROG was his bottle. Not every player has that but he does.

“Yes he was a great rugby player but he was a smart person too. He has got intellectual ability. He can manage people. He can read them.

“And he really, really cares about winning and is passionate enough to get that feeling across to his team mates and to his players.

“So he has done extraordinarily well on his coaching journey and is still on an upward trajectory as a head coach.

Premier Sports pundit Rob Kearney rates Ronan O'Gara.
(Image: Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Craig Watson)

“We have to give him a huge amount of credit for getting out of Ireland, going to France with Racing, then off to the Crusaders (in New Zealand) and then back to France (with La Rochelle).

“So he has given himself exposure to rugby in all parts of the world which is not an easy thing to do when you have a big family.”

And it is in La Rochelle that he has built a second family - namely the team that won the 2022 and 2023 European Cups.

Kearney says: “ROG has an emotional intelligence to him, something that a lot of really good coaches have. Andy Farrell, as an example, is a coach who has it in absolute spades, an ability to be able to connect with the player, to know which part of the psyche you have to connect with.

“That is a very difficult thing to do and that is what sets really good coaches apart. ROG is great at that.”

And he will need to be this weekend because Leinster, while yet to hit peak form, remain unbeaten this season, winning 11 games out of 11.

Kearney said: “I still don’t think our attack is where it has been or where it is going to be by the later stages of this season but I also think there are a lot of fair reasons why it is not there yet.

“Ultimately your defence wins finals and I do think Leinster’s defence has improved immeasurably this season.”

It has to - for their sake - because Leinster’s quest to win a fifth Champions Cup has become the sport’s biggest saga, similar to Liverpool’s thirst for a Premier League title prior to 2020.

Four defeats from the last six finals is bad enough - but the manner of those losses have been harrowing, going down in extra time last year, losing right at the death two years prior.

Kearney, however, feels the additions of RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett can allow them to seal the deal in 2025.

He said: “There has definitely been a preordained narrative around Leinster winning this competition because they have come so close so many times.

“From the outside any team that is capable of winning the Champions Cup, by definition if they don’t win it, it is a failure.

“So you can look at it like that. And to be fair, a key reason why Leinster are under a little more pressure than other teams is because they put themselves under that pressure.

“However I do feel sorry for Leinster for the manner of those losses in the last few years, just in terms of how tight the margins have been.

“The history books will always say you are a loser if you don’t finish first. For me, the addition of Jordie and RG are huge because if you are being super critical of Leinster, it has been those last five, ten minutes of finals when they have not been able to get over the line.”

Rob Kearney was previewing the Investec Champions Cup games between Munster and Saracens and La Rochelle and Leinster which will be shown live on Premier Sports this weekend

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