Ronan O’Gara prefers, these days, to watch his Racing 92 team play from high up in the stands.
The former Munster and Ireland outhalf usually spends most of Racing’s games watching from an elevated position after moving himself away from the sidelines.
O’Gara spent much of his first two seasons at the Top 14 on the sidelines but, for the past while, removed himself from the white heat of battle to give himself a better view of the action.
On Sunday, with Racing battling to get a result against La Rochelle and the clock winding down, O’Gara was lured back to the sideline.
https://youtu.be/ugaMCdjicEM
Racing found themselves 16-9 down with minutes left on the clock. A win was beyond them but they could still claim a draw. Replacement scrum-half Teddy Iribaren was then penalised for a no-arm tackle when it looked, on resulting replays, as if he had legally wrapped his man.
O’Gara was not the only one of the Racing 92 coaching and playing staff to object but, it would seem, he took his protestations a step too far.
The Cork native has been summoned to appear in front of LNR [league] officials on a disciplinary rap. O’Gara’s offence stems from how he addressed a match official in those closing minutes.
Also up in front of the LNR are coaches Adrien Buononato [Oyonnax] and former Munster coach Simon Mannix [Pau] for similar disciplinary breaches. Possible sanctions for the trio range from warnings and fine to touchline bans.
We will report more on the matter when we have it.
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