Ronan O’Gara faces ban after La Rochelle’s ‘kung-fu fighting’ red card creates unwanted Top 14 history
La Rochelle coach Ronan O'Gara argues with referee Jeremy Rozier following the red card brandished to Antoine Hastoy for the foul play, pictured inset.
La Rochelle boss Ronan O’Gara was red-carded in the second half of his team’s Sunday night loss at Pau in a Top 14 match that had earlier witnessed the fastest red card in French league history.
Just 34 seconds had been played at Stade du Hameau when referee Jeremy Rozier called a halt to play. He awarded a penalty to the home side and asked his TMO to show him the footage of the collision that had occurred on 19 seconds when Antoine Hastoy gathered aerial ball and caught the chasing Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang in the face with his boot.
Rozier decided it was a red card offence and after Axel Desperes had landed the penalty kick to open the scoring following Hastoy’s dismissal, O’Gara confronted the referee with the clock now stopped on 1:16.
Firm rebuke
The situation resulted in a firm rebuke for the La Rochelle boss from the official, and a red card eventually followed in the 57th minute of the 33-53 loss after a follow-up show of temper from the Irishman.
At his post-match media briefing, O’Gara said. “I had imagined many scenarios before this match, but it’s difficult for me to digest, difficult to understand as well.
“Let’s just say that with hindsight, I understand the logic of this ‘kung-fu fighting’ a little better, studs to an opponent’s head. I find it hard to believe that he [Hastoy] intended to hurt the opponent. It changed the game.
“The referee told me he saw blood… and that’s what decided everything. Antoine might have been caught a bit off guard.
“It was a courageous skill, under that first pressure, at home, especially since we had been talking all week about Pau’s aerial threat. I’m not an expert, but there were mitigating circumstances…”
La Rochelle’s Antoine Hastoy is sent off after just 34 seconds of play 🤯
The Frenchman is shown red for a kick to the head of Aaron Grandidier 🟥 pic.twitter.com/7aMpkn5vnA
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) November 30, 2025
It was alluded that Grandidier-Nkanang could possibly have destabilised Hastoy in the challenge, resulting in the red-carded reaction. But O’Gara was adamant that his out-half didn’t intentionally kick the French Olympic 7s gold medal winner.
“It’s difficult to speak for him, but he [Hastoy] didn’t intentionally kick an opponent in the head; if he had, he’d get a six-month ban. But he wasn’t in that frame of mind. He was more likely slightly off balance in the air.
“It’s terrible, it was prime time, a Sunday evening, and boom! But I don’t think the action was clear-cut enough to warrant a red card.”
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The tough Hastoy sanction was influential in La Rochelle’s fifth defeat of the league campaign, leaving them in 10th place after 11 matches with the Top 14 now taking a break for the opening two rounds of Investec Champions Cup action.
Hastoy’s kung-fu kick will now be the subject of a disciplinary hearing in France, but O’Gara will also be called to account for his own sending off. Given that he has had several previous bans as the La Rochelle boss, he could now be set for a lengthy suspension.
