Why Richie Mo'unga and Ronan O'Gara 'didn't really speak for four months'

Before leading La Rochelle to titles in France, 128-cap Ireland playmaker Ronan O’Gara served under Scott Robertson at the Crusaders. During his tenure at the Kiwi club, he played a key role in helping Richie Mo’unga develop into the star he is today.

Ireland’s second-highest points scorer, O’Gara had nothing but positive things to say about his time with the serial Super Rugby champions.

The 48-year-old, currently providing commentary on the British & Irish Lions Tour in Australia, summarised his time in Christchurch as “24 months of just rugby chat. So I loved it.”

While he described himself as nothing more than a “blow-in” who spent his time picking the brains of everyone in the environment, the Irishman wasn’t afraid of upholding standards, something Mo’unga learnt early on.

The story came about after O’Gara was asked about the greatest player he’s ever coached.

“Every single time you go into that Crusaders environment, I hit it at a time when you had such great All Blacks retiring, so you get such great learnings when you see what happens to a player when it comes to the end, and then they actually give their soul and their spirit to the team as opposed to themselves,” O’Gara explained on The Aftermatch with Kirst & Beav.

“With Kieran Read, with (Matt) Todd, people like that, it just blew my mind, (Ryan) Crotty.

“I think from a personal relationship, it was Richie Mo’unga, but I had a difficult start with him because I asked him for his kicking program, and I just said to him, ‘Richie, that doesn’t stack up to be world-class to me. I thought you said you wanted to be world-class?’

“So we didn’t really speak for three, four months. It was really difficult. But I had to stay true to what I thought was world-class to push him, and know every time he wins a title, he rings me and we have such a strong relationship, and I’ve seen him progress.

“That makes me very, very happy. Very proud. Because the one thing that happens when you get older, you get a little bit wiser, and you try and impart that on the guy and at first, there’s a little bit of push back, which there was from Richie, but now, we have such deep respect between us… that fills your heart with such joy that you have that connection with a guy for all your life.

“I’m happy with that, but I could say that for another 14 boys because that place is so special.”

O’Gara signed off on the topic by humbly downplaying his role in the Crusaders dynasty once more, and again expressing gratitude for his relationships within the club, before speaking once more on Mo’unga in particular.

“Hopefully he’ll get back into the Test arena. It’d be good to see it.”