Ronan O'Gara acknowledges Leinster snub: "You would be disappointed"

When you think of Leinster rugby, many names come to mind.

Brian O'Driscoll, Johnny Sexton, Leo Cullen, Sean O'Brien and Shane Horgan all pop into your consciousness as being synonymous with the blue short.

One name that won't come up is Ronan O'Gara. A Munster icon, O'Gara is as red as the names above are blue.

However, since retiring, O'Gara has blossomed into one of the top coaches in the world and has worked wonders with French side La Rochelle, previously spending a stint in New Zealand at the beginning of his career.

The coaching globe-trotter has shown no issue with making eyes at teams you wouldn't normally associate him with. Take England for example, a nation which has been linked to O'Gara in the past, and when those links came up, ROG wasn't exactly in a hurry to shoot them down.

So, when it was announced that the 2026/27 season would be Cullen's last in charge of Leinster, many wondered whether O'Gara would feature on the shortlist. It seems, at this juncture, that Leinster will be moving in a different direction, with Noel McNamara seemingly the frontrunner for the job as the IRFU look to lure him back to Ireland from Bordeaux.

Speaking to the Irish Times this week, O'Gara revealed that there was no contact made with Leinster, acknowledging that despite being a Munsterman through-and-through, he was disappointed not to receive a call.

“No, Leinster didn’t reach out and the competitor inside you would be disappointed that they didn’t because you think [why wouldn’t you at least have a chat]," he said.

“But like, for me, so many people are stuck in the past. Yes, as the rugby player for Munster, I didn’t like Leinster and Leinster didn’t like me. Let’s be honest here. We’re playing sport to win.

“I had 10 years of unbelievable days in the red jersey when we usually got the better of Leinster and the last four years, where Leinster took over. That’s as a player. That’s 2013 when I stopped playing.

“Then you try and build a completely different career. Some people in Ireland don’t understand that I am a professional coach that’s gone around the world to be as good as I can be. And the job that I’m doing here would speak quite highly of [my progress] without talking myself up; sometimes you must stand for something.”

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