He might not have any interest in the Welsh job, but Ronan O’Gara, the former Irish great and La Rochelle championship-winning coach, didn’t take long to express his attraction in the soon-to-be-vacant Wallabies head coaching role.
“Yes. Keen. Be a great team to work with,” the Irish great told the Sydney Morning Herald in a text message.
O’Gara’s interest came inside 24 hours of Joe Schmidt confirming that he would stand down as Wallabies coach following this year’s Rugby Championship in early October.
Nonetheless, the governing body is optimistic Schmidt will act as an advisor once he bows out against his home nation in the Bledisloe Cup.
Ronan O’Gara, the two-time Champions Cup winning coach with La Rochelle, says he’d be interested in taking over from Joe Schmidt with the Wallabies. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
What Schmidt’s role beyond the Rugby Championship exactly looks like won’t be known until his successor is confirmed, with the New Zealander not wanting to tread on anyone’s toes.
Just who takes over remains to be seen, but Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh said he anticipated a decision would be made early in the Super Rugby season.
“I think that we would ideally finalise a head coaching position fairly early on in the Super Rugby campaign,” Waugh told News Corp on Friday.
“Continuity is really important for us. So we certainly don’t consider this a fresh start. I think that we’re building cohesion and connection and alignment right across the high performance structures within Australian rugby.
“So it certainly won’t be a fresh start. It’s a building on all the platforms that we’ve been leaning into so deliberately over the last 12 to 15 months.
“Now it’s around actually getting to an outcome on who we think will be the best head coach to continue that growth and continue that momentum that we’ve built over the last period of time.”
Rugby Australia CEO (R) is on the hunt for a new Wallabies head coach after Joe Schmidt (L) decided against going through until the 2027 World Cup. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
While local coaches Dan McKellar and Les Kiss remain the leading contenders to take over, and former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika will be a free agent come June, RA said they would still consider foreign candidates to lead the national team through to the home 2027 World Cup campaign.
“If the best candidate to continue that trajectory is an overseas candidate, then we’ll be making the right choice for the players’ development,” Waugh told the Herald.
“You look across our high-performance team and [Director of High Performance] Peter Horne, who is clearly well-connected internationally and domestically around rugby, about who is in the market and who are the best operators, and then you’ve got Joe Schmidt, who’s travelled the world and been a world leader in his field for many years now.
“So clearly we’ll discuss and ask for his guidance and counsel at the appropriate time, but it certainly won’t be putting unnecessary pressure on Joe, given that he’ll have his job to complete as we go through the Lions series and the Rugby Championship.”
O’Gara’s interest will undoubtedly prick RA’s interest given the former playmaker’s inroads as a coach.
The former Munster playmaker joined Scott Robertson’s Crusaders for two successful years in 2018 and 2019 and then led La Rochelle to back-to-back European Champions Cup crowns.
O’Gara credited his time with the kings of Super Rugby with helping his transition to coaching and the importance of building a strong culture.
“In France I’m seen as very demanding and difficult because of the standards I try and keep but I just want players to try and experience what I did,” O’Gara told The Guardian.
“I got so much out of the game. It gave me wonderful emotions and now I want to really try and give back.
“I care a lot as a coach. I cared a lot as a player. It’s probably my greatest attribute. I spent two good seasons with Razor and was transformed by him. I see the good in people now and the possibilities.”
The 128-Test great for Ireland, who played two Tests for the Lions, was the first coach to publicly throw his hat in the ring, with several local Australian coaches already privately considering how best to build a coaching team.
Whether or not RA would seriously entertain him remains to be seen, but the rising coach’s ability to lead La Rochelle through to the final stages of the French Top 14 and take them to consecutive Champions Cup crowns isn’t something to be sneezed at.
O’Gara also has a strong relationship with former Wallabies captain Will Skelton, whose career has continued in an upwards trajectory since moving to the west coast of France.
La Rochelle players, including Will Skelton, celebrate with Ronan O’Gara after beating Leinster to claim the Heineken Champions Cup Final at Stade Velodrome in Marseille. (Photo By Harry Murphy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
O’Gara’s comments came three months after he said he wanted to take the next step in his coaching career by overseeing a top-tier international team.
“There are Test jobs I’d bite people’s hands off for,” O’Gara said. “That usually works itself out if you’re good enough at your club. You’ve got to have those ambitions, I think, because you want to be the best you can be.”
Asked who he would want to coach, O’Gara added: “I haven’t thought about that, to be honest with you. Without lacking humility, I’d prefer Ireland, England or France.”
