RONAN O’GARA IS into his second week with the Racing Metro coaching staff and his brief is already expanding.
The former Munster and Ireland outhalf was initially announced as a skills and youth coach with the French Top 14 side but he will also be coaching a backline that includes Juan Imhoff, Jamie Roberts, Benjamin Fall and Jonny Sexton.
New Racing coaches Laurent Labit and Laurent Travers, who moved to Paris from Castres after guiding them to Top 14 title success, gave their first press conference. They confirmed that O’Gara’s duties will be split between the senior team, the club’s training centre with the youth team and player scouting.
Labit said, “We wanted, after eight years of working together, to try and challenge ourselves and to incorporate a fresh, outside view. The idea was mainly to bring in an individual with a sharper eye for skills and technique.”
The 45-year-old has also asked O’Gara to identify talent from the youth ranks and in players abroad to strengthen Racing’s championship challenge in the coming years. The Parisian side finished in sixth last season, just a point back from the league playoffs, but were eliminated after the pool stages in the Heineken Cup. They were thumped 29-6 by Munster in January but an injured O’Gara missed the match. Labit revealed:
[O'Gara's] work will primarily focus on the business sector, even if the players are already confirmed this season. Vitally, at the training centre, Ronan will have a very important job to do. As you can see in France, there is a real lack of individual talent and skill when compared with other nations.”
Labit, who had a 17-year playing career in France, believes O’Gara’s vast experience can help with areas such as restarts, passing, goalkicking and both grubber and strategic. “We have a big deficiency, today, in these areas across France. It is with this in mind that Ronan has joined us.”
