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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Robert Hynes

Ronan O'Gara reiterates interest in coaching England after Rugby World Cup

Ronan O'Gara has reiterated that he would be interested in coaching England after next year's World Cup.

Eddie Jones will leave his role as England coach following the tournament in France and O'Gara revealed earlier this year that he would "love to have a go" at the job.

And he has doubled down on those comments, telling the London Times: "Yeah, of course, I would be. It’s a huge job. There’s probably a lot involved with it, and you’d have to be very firm with what your criteria are and what your role is.

READ MORE: Andy Farrell names Ireland team for Fiji clash

"When you strip it all back, essentially you want to be winning games, but you need a strong support network around you to be put in that position.

"I would be thorough in my approach, in terms of what country you’d like to coach. There are a handful that jump out straight away."

O'Gara is strongly fancied to one day coach Ireland, but with Andy Farrell's current contract not expiring until 2025, he could have a long time to wait for that job to become available.

On the possibility of coaching Ireland, O'Gara added: “I’m from Ireland, which would have a special appeal (coaching them). I would consider long and hard about what country. They’re all different, and they would have different replies

“But then you might want to try, if your health allows, to be a veteran Test coach where you could have 20 years at Test level — there are coaches that have done that and done brilliantly.”

O'Gara is currently director of rugby at La Rochelle, who he guided to Champions Cup glory last season, but he is facing another suspension for recent remarks regarding French rugby officials.

A statement from the Ligue Nationale de Rugby says the comments were made "relating to arbitration, to the citing commissioners and to the organisation of the championships with the National Technical Director of Arbitration."

It is understood the comments were made during La Rochelle's Top 14 win over Brive last Saturday.

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