Ronan O'Gara handed two-week ban for red card

The La Rochelle coach won't be on the sideline for his side's second Champions Cup outing against Stormers in South Africa

Stade Rochelais' Head Coach Ronan O'Gara arrives ahead of the Leicester Tigers game. Pic: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

Ronan O’Gara will not be standing pitchside for La Rochelle’s second Champions Cup outing against Stormers in South Africa, after he was handed a two-week suspension and fined €3,000 following his red card during La Rochelle’s 53-33 Top 14 defeat at Pau on November 30.

He had incurred the public wrath of referee Jeremy Rozier for audibly questioning his decision to send off fly-half Antoine Hastoy after just 34 seconds, and was banished from the sidelines after 57 minutes.

O’Gara watched his side’s opening Champions Cup win over a callow Leicester side last Saturday from high in the stands, after he was provisionally suspended pending yesterday’s hearing, where he learned his sanction for ‘disrespecting the authority of a match official’.

His disciplinary history prompted the committee to add a week to his suspension, before removing it again for his expression of remorse, acknowledgment of guilt, and conduct before and during the hearing.

O’Gara can return to the sidelines of Marcel Deflandre for La Rochelle’s last Top 14 match before Christmas, when they host Bayonne on December 20.

Hastoy, meanwhile, was suspended for three weeks, reduced from six, for ‘reckless play’ following his red card — the fastest in Top 14 history. He had kicked out at the advancing Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, making contact with the Pau winger’s face, as he took the first high ball of the game. He will be available for selection again for La Rochelle’s trip to Toulouse on December 28.

The LNR’s disciplinary committee decided not to sanction La Rochelle president Vincent Merling or the club.