Donnacha Ryan joins coaching set-up at Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle

The switch on a three-year contract to join O’Gara’s coaching staff first revealed by the Irish Examiner last month

Tue, 06 Jul, 2021 - 10:53

Simon Lewis

Donnacha Ryan’s move into coaching at La Rochelle for next season has been confirmed by Racing 92 president Jacky Lorenzetti.

The switch to join Ronan O’Gara’s coaching staff after was first revealed by the Irish Examiner last month. The 37-year-old lock who began his professional career at Munster in 2004 and won 47 Test caps for Ireland had options to extend his playing days beyond Racing, whom he joined in 2017.

There were links with second-tier Pro D2 clubs in France but Ryan has been tempted to join O’Gara’s new-look set-up on the Atlantic coast as the Top 14 and European runners-up reboot following the departure of director of rugby Jono Gibbes.

Racing president Lorenzetti was talking to RMC Sport about the changes at the Parisian club this summer and addressing the departures, which will also see Simon Zebo rejoin Munster for next season, he said: “Yes, mainly players who were reaching the end of their careers.

“François Trinh-Duc will play in Bordeaux for a year, Donnacha Ryan is joining La Rochelle as a coach, Antonie Claassen will be a player-coach at Suresnes, Dominici Bird has unfortunately returned to New Zealand for personal reasons. It was very bad news.”

It is believed that Ryan has inked a three-year deal with La Rochelle.

O’Gara’s promotion from head coach to replace Gibbes as the main man will like see Ryan assume responsibility for some aspects of the Clermont-bound DoR’s coaching brief, looking after the forwards and in particular the lineout.

The former Nenagh-Ormond player had followed O’Gara, then an assistant at Racing, to Paris in the summer of 2017 having played 13 seasons for his native province, representing Munster 167 times. A starter in the Ireland second row in Chicago for the historic first win over the All Blacks in November 2016, Ryan played his 47th and final Test match against England in the following year’s Six Nations before joining Racing.

He has remained a central figure with the Parisian club and played 23 times last season but was not offered a contract extension.