‘Donnez ou… Rocket up his hole!’
Ronan O’Gara’s impressive start to coaching life is reportedly set for a huge upward curve, if his bosses at Racing Métro are willing to set aside one ambitious project for the next.
Speculation has been rife in France – with Midi Olympique and L’Equipe running stories – that Racing Métro’s coaching team of Laurent Labit and Laurent Travers have been approached to take over the French national team following the World Cup.
Reports suggest that Labit and Travers, who led Castres to a Top 14 title in 2013, would be able to select their own backroom staff, including O’Gara, who has become a trusted confidant over the past two years. The former Munster and Ireland out-half began his coaching brief, with Racing, as a skills and kicking coach but has since added defence to his portfolio.
So intense and frequent were the stories, that Labit addressed the media, on Thursday, to insist both he, Travers, and their coaching staff, are happy to remain with the Top 14 side. For now. Labit commented:
‘We are committed to [Racing] president Jacky Lorenzetti and his long-term project. That means training the professional team and the arrival of our new stadium, Arena 92. It would not be right to jump ship before the completion of these projects, especially at the beginning of our adventure. We are men of our words. There is a commitment [here] for four years.’
Racing will lose Johnny Sexton to Leinster over the summer but All Blacks out-half Dan Carter will take his place following the World Cup. Labit says he and his coaching team will be in place when Carter arrives.
He added, ‘The French team is something every coach dreams of but there are ethics we need to respect.’
Labit and Travers, it is believed, want to stay on at Racing until 2017, at least, before considering a switch to the national side. At that stage, O’Gara may well be back at Munster in a coaching capacity.
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