Ronan O'Gara: Drawing a line after humiliation against Toulouse and preparing for Leinster

We are starting a new, thrilling project with young exciting talent in La Rochelle but it will take some time. Is there the patience to wait? Have we got that time? Have I got that time? 

TEAM BUILDING: Nolann Le Garrec celebrates as he crosses the line to score a try during La Rochelle’s Top14 win against Toulon at The Marcel-Deflandre Stadium last weekend. This is week two of the team’s rejig, says O’Gara, as the clock went back to zero post-Toulouse. Picture: Xavier Leoty/AFP via Getty Images

EACH week there’s too great a lunge. Two backwards, one forward. We build continuity, then injuries and international blocks sunder it. But at year’s end, after being spanked down in Toulouse, it just felt like time for a reset. Time to pull the handbrake and get off the merry-go-round.

In the summer of 2023, La Rochelle were 60 seconds away from winning the Champions Cup and Top 14 double. It was everything the club, the city and the project had built towards and with one defensive misread, the whole thing was torpedoed in the harbour mouth.