Ronan O'Gara: Hardest part of Cup final week are the early conversations

It’s the one conversation where you are duty-bound to be as precise and brutal as necessary, where you leave no room for ambiguity and where all sides know exactly where they stand.

La Rochelle's Irish coach Ronan O'Gara (C) looks on during the French Top 14 rugby union match between La Rochelle and SU Agen Lot-et-Garonne at the Marcel Deflandre Stadium. (Photo by XAVIER LEOTY/AFP via Getty Images)

THE conversations last Sunday morning were difficult. The first time in a nine-year coaching journey that the responsibility fell to me to tell a player he wasn’t going to involved in a massive Cup final.

Did you see Moneyball? Where Billy Beane, the Oakland A’s GM is tutoring his sidekick on how to break bad news to a player.