Ronan O'Gara

Ronan John Ross O'Gara (Rónán Ó Gadhra; born 7 March 1977) is an Irish former rugby union player and current coach.

O'Gara played as a fly-half and is Ireland's second most-capped player and second highest points scorer.

He is currently head coach of La Rochelle in the French Top 14.

After a year, his parents sent him to Presentation Brothers College, Cork, where he won a Junior Cup medal in 1992 and a Senior Cup medal in 1995.

It was at Pres where O'Gara first came into contact with Declan Kidney, who was head of rugby at the school.

Kidney would later go on to coach O'Gara with both Munster and Ireland.

O'Gara attended University College Cork and won an All-Ireland Under-20 medal in 1996.

O'Gara made his Munster debut alongside longtime Munster and Ireland teammate David Wallace against Connacht in August 1997, scoring 19 points.

O'Gara's Heineken Cup debut came against Harlequins in September 1997 in the 1997–98 Heineken Cup.

O'Gara kicked 15 points, but Munster lost the game 48–40.

He graduated with a B.A. and a master's degree in Business Economics in 1999.

He started for Munster in the 2000 Heineken Cup Final, which Northampton Saints won 8–9, and again in the 2002 Heineken Cup Final, which Leicester Tigers won 15–9.

He was part of the Munster team that won the 2002–03 Celtic League, starting and scoring 12 points as Munster beat Neath 37–17 in the Millennium Stadium.

O'Gara's last minute conversion against Gloucester on 18 January 2003 helped Munster to a 27-point victory which took them through to the Heineken Cup quarter final; this match has come to be known in Munster folklore as the Miracle Match.

O'Gara turned down the chance to join NFL side Miami Dolphins in March 2003.

He started when Munster beat Llanelli Scarlets to win the Celtic Cup in May 2005, scoring 17 points in the game.

O'Gara played a key part in Munster's Heineken Cup winning team of 2006.

O'Gara had an important role in Munster's semi-final victory over rivals Leinster by scoring 20 points, including a 77th minute try.

On 20 May 2006, O'Gara kicked 13 points in Munster's first Heineken Cup Final victory over Biarritz at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

On 22 October 2006, O'Gara kicked a last minute penalty from inside his own half to win Munster a 21–19 victory over Leicester Tigers in the first round of the pool stages at Welford Road.

O'Gara scored 15 points during Munster's win in the 2006–07 Heineken Cup pool game against French side Bourgoin on 14 January 2007.

He kicked 5 points in Munster's quarter-final defeat to Scarlets on 30 March 2007.

On 19 January 2008, O'Gara captained Munster to victory against Wasps in their final pool match of the 2007–08 Heineken Cup, knocking the incumbent champions out and making it through to quarter finals of the cup for the tenth consecutive season.

On 24 May 2008, O'Gara won his second Heineken Cup medal as Munster beat Toulouse 16–13 in the 2008 Heineken Cup Final, with O'Gara scoring 11 points.

O'Gara won 128 caps for Ireland, winning three Triple Crowns and the Grand Slam in 2009.

He also played on three British & Irish Lions tours, winning two caps.

He played for sixteen seasons with Munster, with whom he won two Heineken Cups.

O'Gara is the tenth most-capped and is the sixth highest points scorer in the history of test rugby.

He is also Munster's all-time leading scorer, and holds the Heineken Cup record for points and caps.

O'Gara scored several match-winning drop goals for Ireland, including in the 78th minute of the Wales vs Ireland match in the 2009 Six Nations Championship, in which Ireland won the Grand Slam.

Since his retirement from playing, O'Gara has undertaken a coaching career.

O'Gara began coaching in 2013 with French club Racing 92 as the club's defence coach before becoming the assistant defence coach of the New Zealand club Crusaders in 2018.

The Crusaders would win two Super Rugby titles while O'Gara was a member of their coaching team.

O'Gara took up his first head coach role in 2019 when he returned to France and was announced as the new coach of Stade Rochelais.

Since taking over as head coach, O'Gara has guided La Rochelle to three European Cup finals, the second of which in the 2022 final they beat Leinster to claim the club's first ever major silverware, with a repeat performance in Dublin in the 2023 final.

O'Gara was born in San Diego, California, where his father, Fergal, was working as a post–doctoral fellow in microbiology.

His father had also played wing for the UCG club in Connacht.

His family moved back to Ireland when he was six months old.

O'Gara attended Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh primary school, before moving to Bishopstown Community School where his mother was a teacher.

His mother is originally from County Mayo.