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Ronan O'Gara 'lost the plot' with Will Skelton over fitness issues

Ronan O'Gara joined us to look back at La Rochelle's defeat in the Champions Cup final against To...



Rugby

Ronan O'Gara 'lost the plot' with Will Skelton over fitness issues


Ronan O'Gara joined us to look back at La Rochelle's defeat in the Champions Cup final against Toulouse, and gave us a great insight into coaching at an elite club.

After breaking down the tactical approach and where his team might have done better, O'Gara let us inside the dressing room with his approach to one of his players' fitness.

Will Skelton said in the run-up to the game that O'Gara had singled him out as not being fit enough in one of the first sessions with the club.

"There is a good staff in La Rochelle, there are a lot of people interested in getting the best out of people. I am a little piece of the jigsaw and I enjoy doing that but I think sometimes you can see early stages in a project what is glaringly obvious.

"Mind you, the conditions were 33 degrees! I was extremely harsh to pick out Uini Antonio, Lopeti [Timani] and Will because they are all minimum 130 kilos! They are fast-twitch fibre athletes and on a day like that there was a lot of up and back the pitches.

"The positive for me was the way that Will took that because that could have been a turning point where he says 'he doesn't know what he's talking about.'

"He has changed a lot, and it is a pleasure being around people as motivated as him."

Ronan O'Gara: 'I lost the plot'

If there was any sense that the message was communicated in a serene, learning setting, then O'Gara is quick to dispel the myth.

"You're making it out like this is calm and measured, I'd lost the plot in the changing room!

"I have to give it a bit of context, I've done it a few times but that was one of the times where it was probably matchday three of the season and you could see that this team has potential but if we want to be serious then we need to prioritise getting some of our forwards fitter.

"But they have taken it on really well, I can't speak highly enough of them.You only have to look at the Leinster game where we were still going hard with 14 men at the end. Mentally and physically, that really pleases me."

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