Crusaders staying mum on O’Gara’s move to Christchurch
The question of whether Ronan O’Gara will help coach the Crusaders remains hanging in the air.
Prior to the All Blacks’ test against France in Paris on November 11 O’Gara, a former first fiveeighth who earned 128 test caps for Ireland between 2000 and 2013, was reported by an Irish newspaper to be close to agreeing terms to work as an assistant backs coach under Scott Robertson at the Super Rugby champions.
According the paper’s source, it was ‘‘99 per cent’’ a done deal that O’Gara would join the Crusaders for the 2018-19 seasons. Since then, silence.
Yesterday Crusaders chief executive Hamish Riach told The Press he was unable to provide any new information. ‘‘The process to replace Leon (MacDonald) is continuing,’’ Riach stated.
O’Gara, 40, who is currently working as a defence coach at the Racing Metro club in Paris has confirmed that talks with the Crusaders have started but his comments have been light on detail.
‘‘There are a lot of fences to jump,’’ O’Gara said earlier this month. ‘‘There has been contact there, I am not going to run away from it. But you have to respect I have been really enjoying what has been going on in Paris.
‘‘You have to take my point of view that I have to work there on Monday morning, so let’s wait and see.’’
Robertson was in Ireland when the story broke. At the time he was assisting Robbie Deans with the Barbarians who were scheduled to play Tonga in Limerick.
The fact O’Gara is contracted to Racing until the end of northern season, and the Top 14 club final is scheduled for early June, means he will have to negotiate an exit from this deal to join the Crusaders who are set to start preseason training at the end of this month.
Potentially, he could still be working through any exit clause that allows him to shift to Christchurch to begin the new job.
O’Gara, who is married with five children and played more than 200 games for the Munster club before retiring five years ago, has always made it clear that he is open to the idea of broadening his coaching experiences and working with the Crusaders, who have 18 All Blacks in their squad, is likely to appeal.
Former All Blacks MacDonald worked as an assistant backs coach alongside Brad Mooar this season, before electing to cut short his two-year term. He has returned to Blenheim and re-signed with Tasman for two more seasons as head coach.
If O’Gara joins the Crusaders he will not be the only foreign coach involved with a New Zealand team in Super Rugby. Former All Blacks performance analyst Alistair Rogers, a Welshman, currently works as a defence coach at the Blues under Tana Umaga.