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.