Ronan O’Gara responds to Ireland job speculation and won’t shut door on Munster link

O'Gara may have had a slap on the wrist for mentioning other teams...

The La Rochelle head coach, whose contract expires in France in 2027, has been tipped to succeed Andy Farrell at Ireland, and also linked to his former side Munster.

Though he openly admitted last year that his future at La Rochelle was uncertain, O'Gara has now said that such talk sends a negative message to his players.

But in almost the same breath, O'Gara didn't shut the door on a Munster return in future.

He told the Irish Examiner: "Andy is doing a brilliant job with Ireland. I don’t have a leg to stand on in terms of the Irish job.

"With Munster, who knows in terms of the future, but where I am mentally at the minute, I wouldn’t be swapping any job in the world for my club job.

He added: "When you start talking about other alternatives as a job, you send a bad message to the players, to the club president.

"Ever since that I haven’t spoken about another job and I never will speak about another job because I am very happy here at this brilliant club."

O’Gara brutally pinpoints reason why Jack Crowley hasn’t nailed down Ireland spot

After Sam Prendergast was given the nod at out-half for Ireland's Six Nations opener against France on Thursday, O'Gara believes he has a strong explanation for Jack Crowley moving down the pecking order.

"Jack Crowley in that game (victory over France in 2024), it was like: 'We have our guy'.

"Because he's from Munster and Cork, I like him and I tried to sign him. You're like: 'Come on Jack, I need more, I need you to close this out.'

"Jack has it all, but he can't put it together on the day that matters. What is that?"

"You look at Jack in Toulon, his goal-kicking in a hostile environment was beautiful. Then he goes home against Castres. There's mis-hits and there's mis-hits, but one of them went about 30 metres wide of the target. That's a big malfunction.

"I think he's a guy who will absolutely be different when he gets his confidence. It's way harder to do what Jack is trying to do in the Test arena. How does he build up his confidence? It's from club games.

"But in the club games it isn't happening for him. He's probably trying a bit harder, he's pushing it, he's forcing it, and he's making errors that may potentially cost him starting a Six Nations."