No rest for O'Gara as French title race starts in mid-August

QUICK TURNAROUND: La Rochelle's Irish coach Ronan O'Gara. Pic: XAVIER LEOTY / AFP

Ronan O’Gara’s quest to lead European champions La Rochelle to their first-ever French championship will begin again in the middle of next month — just nine weeks after they lost the Top 14 final to Toulouse.

Most of the French clubs have been back in training for several weeks now and O’Gara’s La Rochelle will open their campaign away to Montpellier on August 19.

The Top 14 race will begin the previous evening when reigning champions Toulouse travel to Bayonne, a week before Ireland take on Samoa there at Stade Jean Dauger in a World Cup warm-up game.

The United Rugby Championship will not get underway until mid-October but the French clubs will play three rounds of their championship before breaking for the Rugby World Cup and they will resume at the end of October.

O’Gara’s side, who will also host Lyon and travel to Clermont before the World Cup break, will resume at the end of October when they take on a Castres side coached by another former Irish international and Lion Jeremy Davidson.

Newly promoted Oyonnax, with former Munster and Irish internationals Darren Sweetnam and Chris Farrell on board, will open their campaign at home to Clermont Auvergne. Both Sweetnam and Farrell have signed deals keeping them at Oyonnax for at least two more seasons.

Stuart Lancaster’s first match in charge of Racing 92 after his move from Leinster will be a home clash with Bordeaux Begles as the marathon race for the Bouclier de Brennus gets underway.

The competition will conclude next June with the semi-finals taking place in Lille. The final will be in Marseille on June 29 — 45 weeks after it starts — as the Olympics will be taking place in Paris.

Meanwhile, Grenoble, whose strong Irish connections in the past include Bernard Jackman as head coach and Munster’s Mike Prendergast also on the ticket, face a boardroom battle to remain in Pro D2.

They lost a promotion play-off to the Top 14 with Perpignan but subsequently were demoted to National 1 after apparent financial irregularities. 

The French authorities have taken the unusual step of releasing the Pro D2 fixtures with Grenoble and Carcassonne, who will avoid relegation if Grenoble are punished, both named in them. 

A decision on whether Grenoble is demoted is expected shortly as the Pro D2 race is also due to begin in the middle of next month.