Ronan O'Gara joined OTB AM on Monday where he looked towards the future of the game of rugby, during this hiatus.
The La Rochelle coach teased out some of the issues facing the future of the game and "an attractive calendar that suits everyone."
We had Ronan O'Gara on #OTBAM | 🏉
✅ Shedding the 'pretty boy' tag
✅ @Munsterrugby vs @AllBlacks
✅ Rejigging the rugby calendar
✅ ROG's competitive edgehttps://t.co/vlOmEwD8hE— Off The Ball (@offtheball) May 11, 2020
O'Gara suggested there were 40 weekends during a calendar year that were viable to play rugby, with the remainder essential for recovery.
"If you could get 30 really meaningful games (in that time)," says O'Gara, "you'd have an attractive calendar."
"It's probably a bit of an ask. When I was really firing, I really thought the optimum was three out of four Saturdays of the month. If that's nine months of the year, you're up around 27 games."
That plan could work but as O'Gara points out, "the devil is in the detail" of how 'ownership' of players lies.
Ronan O'Gara ideas
O'Gara cited the example of Toulouse and the potentially complex scenario of a big Top 14 game falling on the same weekend as a French international match.
"The President of Toulouse is not going to be happy with that because he wants his player to give Toulouse the best chance of winning, so already they are not happy."
O'Gara is adamant whatever the nuts and bolts of change that is required in the world game, he is certain now is the time to make them, before "everything gets rolling again."
"If the people are serious about change, if you want to have realistic or improve change, a lot of work has to go into it to get the structures right.
"This is the one chance, when there has been a pause in the sport, to get the calendar right. But you are going to have to be united and you're going to have to compromise to come up with potential solutions. I think there is an opportunity to get the calendar better."
These are brilliant aspirations, but rugby fans will be wondering if there is any chance they will even be discussed at an official level.
"There is a big meeting on Tuesday between World Rugby and the French and the English Leagues.
"The issue in the TOP14 is they don't really like to move their calendar at all. So World Rugby are looking, say in October for example, maybe Ireland could have to play France twice.
"That's going to take up another round of the Top 14. What's going to happen around the Six Nations time?
"A compromise can be easily reached there. It's really important you have very bright people involved in creating a potentially better calendar.
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