Ronan O'Gara would 'love to have a go' at the England job

April 04, 2022
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Ultimate Rugby

La Rochelle head coach Ronan O'Gara has described the England head coach role as a 'cracking job', highlighting the potential of the current squad.

Appearing on BT Sport's Rugby Tonight, O’Gara was asked by a viewer if he would fancy coaching England someday.

“Yeah, it’d be a great job I think actually, yeah. What a team,” O'Gara said.

“I think there’s so much potential in there. There’s serious rugby players, serious passion for the game in England. It’s a cracking job, yeah, you’d love to have a go off that.”

Would Ronan O'Gara fancy coaching England? 🤔

"Yeah, it would be a great job. What a team."#RugbyTonight pic.twitter.com/XpedpHOfZU

— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) April 3, 2022

Many Munster fans hope that the former flyhalf would return to one day coach Ireland or his Province but he has now effectively opened up the possibility of coaching England.

He is currently in his first head coaching role with French Top 14 side La Rochelle having worked in assistant coach roles with Racing 92 and the Crusaders.

The World Rugby Hall of Famer won 128 Test caps for Ireland and two for the British and Irish Lions.

RFU performance director Conor O'Shea suggested a new coach could work alongside Jones at the World Cup before taking over.

"The plan for us will be to appoint that coach before summer 2023," O'Shea said. "Whether that's embedding them into the programme or taking a helicopter view, that's a discussion to be had.

"We would like to think we will be appointing them in the lead up to 2023. We have so many top English coaches who are in a great position.

"Eddie has worked with Steve [Borthwick], Neal [Hatley], Gussy [Paul Gustard]. You look across the Premiership and then you see the quality of people overseas. I want them to be English and I believe [they] should be."