Ronan O’Gara is still getting his bearings, and no surprise there.

The Munster and Ireland legend has already established an enviable reputation through his stints as an assistant at Racing 92 and Crusaders but he is assuming the role of head coach for the first time at La Rochelle where he will work under director of rugby Jono Gibbes.

Kieran Read precariously sat upon his team-mates’ shoulders holding the Super Rugby trophy aloft on Saturday, satisfied he had ended his career with the Canterbury Crusaders with one final title.

It’s impossible to get used to -2 degrees in July. Irrespective of how many years a Paddy spends in Christchurch, heading out with a couple of Crusader coaches to a Japanese restaurant dressed like a lagging jacket always seems odd.

Ronan O'Gara's Crusaders powered past NZ rivals the Highlanders 38-14 Friday to storm into the Super Rugby semi-finals and continue their drive to a third consecutive title.

He could have joined up with France’s Rugby World Cup coaching ticket or returned to the loving arms of Jacky Lorenzetti and Racing 92.

Ronan O'Gara is on his way back to France, and a head coaching role with Top 14 over-achievers La Rochelle.

The frustration Leinster players and coaches felt after last weekend was absolute. That stuff is hard to internalise. You can’t have enough of those stars on your shirt.

When you are idle in a hotel room in Johannesburg, the pre-match statistics booklet for the Heineken Cup final offers welcome respite from the boredom. Where’s the oul paddies out here when you need one for a chat? Which is why a mass of statistics has become my coffee buddy for part of the week.

The sports editor has an interesting habit of framing questions to me in the context of ‘marks out of 10’. So, when he texted me to ask ‘accuracy marks out of 10 for that L’Equipe story’, I gave it a three.

Ronan O’Gara has been linked with a role in the French coaching setup for the World Cup.

In the Air New Zealand lounge at Christchurch, the Crusaders gathered for our short flight to Dunedin. My phone beeped with a text.

I met up with Dan Carter at Eden Park in Auckland last Saturday, but the chat was all too brief.

It's getting on for 20 years since I was ‘invited’ into my first Irish rugby squad.

The family visited a beautiful little old French settlement village of Akaroa, about 50 miles from Christchurch last weekend. Down by the sea, temperatures were warm and the water on the first weekend of January was like your mother’s bath, writes Ronan O’Gara

Perhaps I’m getting carried away, but wasn’t that a pretty big statement from Munster against Leinster last Saturday?

Ronan O'Gara has taken a strong zero tolerance line to drug cheating in rugby, insisting the 'juicers' should be hit with lifetime bans from the sport.

Ronan O'Gara believes Scott Robertson is a future All Blacks coach.

It’s a great time to be involved in Irish rugby, says Ronan O’Gara

Ronan O'Gara admits that playing the All Blacks down the years was often like 'facing monsters with four legs and four arms'.

Here's your morning bulletin.

"It's amazing, when you get into it, how you just become overpowered with such positive thoughts."

Ronan O’Gara could always be relied upon to deliver for Ireland and Munster, often from seemingly impossible locations on the field.

Ronan O’Gara believes former Munster and Ireland team-mate Paul O’Connell is testing the water for a career in coaching with his first full-time job as a forwards coach at Stade Francais.

Ronan O’Gara believes Munster’s summer capture of Ireland fly-half Joey Carbery from Leinster is a “brilliant” signing and the number 10 jersey is his to lose.

World Rugby has announced that five legends of the game — including Irish Examiner columnist our own Ronan O’Gara — will be inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2018.

Former Ireland and Munster out-half, Ronan O'Gara, is to be inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame this year.

Players stop playing all the time. Yet, when top players stop playing we are led to believe that among the list of things they can offer, in return to the game that gave them so much, is coaching. This may well be the case, but it is not a given.

If Leinster lose the European Champions Cup final in Bilbao on Saturday it could be down to a former Munster player, according to Racing 92’s Dan Carter.

Ronan O’Gara’s drop-goal against Wales which won the Grand Slam for Ireland in 2009 has been named as Ireland's favourite Championship moment.

"Beating Gregor Townsend’s men is less a win in its own right than it is a means to an end now."

Irish Examiner columnists Ronan O'Gara and Donal Lenihan both believe the positives of Ireland's opening Six Nations victory in France outweigh the disappointing performance that preceded Johnny Sexton's epic game-winning drop goal.

At this morning's Irish Examiner Breakfast of Champions at the Clayton Hotel Cork City, Examiner Sport columnists Ronan O'Gara, Donal Lenihan, Tommy Lyons and Ruby Walsh are tackling the hot topics in rugby and racing.

Ronan O’Gara is settling into life at the Crusaders in Canterbury, although he was jolted out of any pre-season tranquility by an earthquake that hit the city last weekend.

Ronan O’Gara has played down the prospects of returning to coach Munster, insisting an Ireland role would be a greater draw if he is to return to this country.

Former Ireland rugby star Ronan O’Gara has just experienced one of the more unsettling aspects of life in his new home in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Racing 92 owner and president Jacky Lorenzetti tried four times to persuade Ronan O’Gara to pass on a move to Super Rugby champions, the Crusaders, without success, the Munster and Ireland legend revealed last night, writes Tony Leen.

Ronan O'Gara will leave Racing 92 at the end of December, the French side have confirmed.

For Ronan O’Gara, the small details left the biggest impression.

Poet Thomas McCarthy celebrated Ronan O’Gara with a specially commissioned poem recognising his prowess as an outhalf, referencing his record 2,625 points total with Munster. 

Rugby legend Ronan O’Gara paid an emotional tribute to the people of Cork as he was conferred with the freedom of the city he said he loves.

Ronan O’Gara’s eldest kids almost stole the show after watching their father receive the Freedom of Cork.

RONAN O’GARA was granted the Freedom of Cork, a signal honour that dates from the 14th century.