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Former Ireland out-half O'Gara linked with surprise World Cup role
Ronan O’Gara has emerged as a surprise contender to link up with Jacques Brunel’s under-fire France for the World Cup in Japan.
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The conclusion of the Six Nations reignited debate over whether Brunel’s back room staff needs additional help to lift itself out of the spiral that has seen them win just five of their 16 matches under the head coach who appointed in a hurry as successor to Guy Noves, who was sacked in December 2017.
The electroshock which federation president Bernard Laporte hoped would happen with the change of guard didn’t materialise, as the French have stumbled from one calamity to the next.
There were mid-Six Nations rumours that ex-French captain Fabien Galthie could be parachuted in on the coaching ticket. Brunel stood by the staff he had, but the debate has now reignited with Midi Olympique on Monday championing the case for former scrum-half’s inclusion.
Now another French newspaper, L’Equipe, has reported that Galthie isn’t the only potential candidate who could provide technical expertise in the countdown to a World Cup pool where France are drawn against England, Argentina, USA and Tonga, the island nation who surprise them at the 2011 finals in New Zealand.
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O’Gara, whose Test level coaching experience amounts to spending a week in Ireland camp in New York during 2017, could potentially link up with Brunel on a freelance basis.
The former Racing 92 defence coach is currently working for Crusaders, the defending Super Rugby champions, and would be available at the latest by the beginning of July.
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Ronan O'Gara fait partie des pistes pour intégrer le staff du XV de France en vue de la Coupe du monde https://t.co/9g3ZLIkNZZ pic.twitter.com/7KPVayxs4U
— L'ÉQUIPE (@lequipe) March 19, 2019
The France team staff are conducting a Six Nations review from Wednesday to Friday to discuss a fourth place finish they only sealed with a shaky win over Italy in Rome. It offers the opportunity for them to consider if they need additional help, something Laporte would be willing to sanction.
“I was hoping for an electroshock, it didn’t work. In upsetting the staff because things were not going well, we were hoping for a better state of mind but the results did not follow,” said Laporte about his axing of Noves 16 months ago.
“We need to go even further in terms of content and skills. I’m here to find solutions. Things must change and I will listen to the coaches in place to know their feelings.
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“I think he Jacques answered the question (about additional staff) for the Six Nations tournament but not for the World Cup. Once again, the request must come from them,” said the federation chief ahead of the post-mortem about a Six Nations where France lost to Wales, England and Ireland.
Comments on RugbyPass
Naaaww boys will be boys! Now run along ya wee scamp! Don’t let us catch you at again😏
1 Go to commentsGreat to have Ethan Blackadder back in the Crusaders in the last few weeks. One of the best all round loose forwards around. He played so well last week against the Rebels. Fantastic attitude Ethan has and his comments are spot on.
2 Go to commentsThe author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
142 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
142 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
142 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
142 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
142 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
142 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
142 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
142 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
142 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
142 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
142 Go to commentsHo hum.
142 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
142 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
142 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
142 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
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