Ronan O'Gara exclusive: The player those Leinster lads remember is not the coach of today

With a contract coming to an end, it could chime with opportunities to consider other options, but where I sit today, La Rochelle is the only project in my eyeline. That’s not to say I don’t find some chat around Leinster interesting or even a tad amusing...

RESPECT: Leinster's Josh van der Flier chatting to La Rochelle head coach Ronan O'Gara after their Champions Cup match at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Branded in the sub-conscious, it runs frame by frame every so often. I can’t forget and can’t afford to forget. Seventy seven minutes gone in the Top 14 final three years ago. La Rochelle leading Toulouse 26-22, Romain Ntamack, midfield, no apparent threat. And then…and then.

We start anew next weekend in the first of 26 rounds of Top 14. Against? Toulouse. Sunday night prime time. Last week we cracked an attendance record for a pre-season friendly at home to Bordeaux. 18,000. Friday night we entertain Munster at the Marcel Deflandre, again a sold out 18,000. The fans won’t give up on the obsession either.