‘We failed in every area’ – Ronan O’Gara in extraordinary rant after shock defeat as players and referee in the firing line
La Rochelle head coach Ronan O'Gara.
Ronan O’Gara has lashed out after his La Rochelle team suffered a shock home defeat to newly-promoted Vannes at the weekend.
The Ireland legend watched on as his side went down to a 23-14 negative at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre on Saturday.
La Rochelle have been plagued by inconsistency this season with their loss against Vannes their fifth defeat in 11 Top 14 matches.
O’Gara is nothing if not honest and did not mince his words following the reversal, appearing to question the desire of his players.
‘Commitment, appetite and will’
“We learned a lesson tonight. Rugby is about commitment, appetite and will. These are three extremely important values and we lacked all three tonight,” he told reporters.
“The thing that disappoints me the most is the content. What is that!? It’s a total lack of precision. We didn’t show anything in front of our loyal supporters.
“It’s a great result for the sport, but it’s a catastrophic result for me. If you put in a commitment like that, you deserve it. Vannes learned from last week: if you keep knocking on the door, it will open. Vannes did that, and congratulations to them.
“But on the other hand, we’ve hit rock bottom! When you do that, you can’t touch it again.”
La Rochelle will now take a break from domestic matters to focus on the Champions Cup, a competition they won back-to-back in 2022 and 2023.
It is always a big target for the club, especially with the Munster legend in charge, and O’Gara will no doubt seek a huge improvement this weekend.
“It was a home game to prepare for the European Cup. We failed in every area. But the main architect is me. It’s a big slap in the face, yes,” he added.
After that, his ire went back onto the players, with O’Gara suggesting that they were not motivated heading into this encounter.
“In my culture, motivation comes from yourself. But in the championship, here, with some people, I think I have to shout more during the week. Can you imagine? I have to shout more during the week, Ronan O’Gara has to shout more during the week!” he said.
Officiating
The former Ireland fly-half also did not think they were helped by the officiating in what was a stop-start contest.
“It’s impossible with a referee like that to have any rhythm in the game. We spent 25 minutes preparing scrums, it’s hell,” O’Gara said.
“We would have liked to have a game to prepare for Europe with a bit of rhythm. What did we do tonight? It felt like the game lasted three hours.”
Asked what needs to be altered for their game against Premiership leaders Bath, O’Gara’s response was blunt.
“Everything!” he said, wryly. “But it’s not funny. What did we transfer from the training pitch to the match, what did we give the fans to watch? Zero.
“It’s serious. Without commitment, aggression and will… I thought we were done with things like that. I thought we were starting our season. We did the opposite.”
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