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Ronan O'Gara says he'd love to coach England
By Ian Cameron
La Rochelle head coach Ronan O'Gara has thrown his hat in the ring for the England job on BT Sports, admitting that he'd 'love to have a go off that'.
O'Gara, who made headlines this weekend following an ugly sideline confrontation with Bordeaux Begles boss Christophe Urios in the Top 14, was asked would he fancy a go at the job and his answer was emphatic.
BT Sports anchor Craig Doyle directed a question from Twitter to O'Gara in a live Q & A and the former Ireland flyhalf quite happily told him he's open to coaching the men in white.
"Yeah, it would be a great job I think actually. Yeah, what a team. There's so much potential there.
"There's serious rugby players and serious passion for the game in England. It's a cracking job, you'd love to have a go off that."
It's an interesting take from O'Gara, who is currently contracted to La Rochelle and has said he will honour his contract with the Top 14 side come what may. The 45-year-old is more used to being quizzed about taking over the reins at Munster, a job he previously ruled himself out of.
Whether or not the RFU would entertain the idea of O'Gara as a head coach is another matter of course.
The RFU have strongly indicated that an English coach is their preference for the next head coach, an admission that has made Leicester Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick a firm favourite to return to the set-up post Eddie Jones.
The union have backed Jones to lead England into the Rugby World Cup in France next year, but speculation remains regarding whether the Australian can make it that far after another disappointing Guinness Six Nations.
England finished third in the end and only managed to pick up a pair of wins against Wales and Italy.
Having impressed as an assistant coach in New Zealand with the Crusaders, O'Gara is certainly going well in France. He spent four seasons as defence coach at Racing 92 and has helped spearhead La Rochelle's recent success since joining them in 2019.
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I guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.
Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.
Go to commentsWhatever let's see if this load of waffle is still valid in 2 years time. ABs will rise we have a lot of new talent coming through. The NPC was the highest standard for years. The game is changing to suit the fast pace we like to play. We get to play the Springboks more, including the franchises, which will make us better! Overall I am optimistic. I will add having watched the England game multiple times we made most of the play. England are an awesome physical team, but you can expect the All Blacks to get better and better at executing the chances. It could easily have been 5 tries to one instead of 3 to 1.
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