Ronan O'Gara: Moving away from Munster helped me 'escape the brutality of retiring'

Ronan O'Gara has opened up about trying to escape the "brutality of retiring".

The Munster and Ireland legend said he needed to get out of the province at the end of his playing career when the opportunity to join the Racing 92 coaching staff came up.

“Paris is a family decision not a rugby decision. It’s helping me escape the brutality of retiring from something that you can’t get back,” he said in Ronan O’Gara: The Big Interview which will air on Virgin Media One.

“I didn’t want to be in the environment of going to the shop on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday… ’How are Munster getting on at the weekend?’

“I didn’t need that because it was probably hard enough in my own head transitioning, so I felt it was best for me to just get out of that environment.”

He added: “It’s walk out of a changing room on a Saturday night, leave the bag inside your front door and you don’t pick it up again.

“It’s got to be brutal though because that’s professional sport but like literally that’s all you did for all of your adult life.”

In negotiations with Racing, O'Gara said he was brave enough to ask for total control over the team's defensive structure.

“I was quite ballsy probably in what I was asking for but I said ‘I think I have something here that will help’ but what we’ve done up to now is out the window and it’s 100% my way or I don’t do it.”

Ronan O’Gara: The Big Interview will air on Virgin Media One on Friday night, February 1 at 11:30pm.