Joe Schmidt faces competition from a Six Nations rival to add Ronan O’Gara to his backroom team

Conor O'Shea keeps denying that he wants the Italy job.

He's already refuted any interest in our Six Nations rivals, but the rumours just won't go away. And now it seems that the Italians are planning on using an Irish rugby legend as a sweetener to tempt him to manage the Azzurri. O'Shea has said before he's very happy with Harlequins, but with Joe Schmidt tied into a long term deal with Ireland, perhaps the ex-Ireland international fancies a crack off another nation to get his first taste of international experience. And according to a journalist based in France, Midi Olympique is claiming that Ronan O'Gara is the honeypot being waved under the nose O'Shea to get him to agree to take over the Italians. It was reported last month that O'Gara was on the radar of the IRFU to link up up with Joe Schmidt's backroom team, but now it seems Italy want to add the current Racing Metro coach to their Irish management ticket. https://twitter.com/gavinmortimer7/status/677938077654982656 https://twitter.com/MartGillingham/status/677940648863993857