Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Vincent Whelan

Watch: Ronan O'Gara gets drenched mid-interview by celebrating La Rochelle players after Champions Cup triumph

Ronan O'Gara had already proven himself as an excellent coach prior to today - but to mastermind a game plan that neutralised such strong favourites in Leinster was surely his most impressive achievement yet.

In energy-sapping conditions in Marseille, his La Rochelle side finally broke the Irish province's resistance and hearts with a late, late try to snatch a dramatic 24-21 win in the Champions Cup final.

The Munster legend spoke to BT Sport in the wake of the upset and reflected on now winning the biggest title in European club rugby as a coach as well as a player.

The whole interview is well worth a watch as there's highlights such as him joking about assistant Donnacha Ryan's 'Tipperary French' as well as how he admitted his side would have been criticised for being 'brain dead' for not kicking the points when Leinster's line repeatedly kept them at bay before the try eventually came.

But it's at the 3:15 mark that the undoubted best part comes as his players sneak up on him before dousing him in water.

Given temperatures in the southern French city hit 30°C today, he might just have been grateful for the cool-down after an incredibly stressful day.

But while O'Gara had the sweet pay-off of victory in the end, Leinster were desolate having failed to hit their usual levels as they were unable to score a single try.

Once again, they appeared to play tight in the biggest game of their season and they will ship plenty of criticism for the worrying pattern.

It started in the Virgin Media studio straight afterwards when Shane Horgan clashed with Rob Kearney over how much of a letdown performance it was.

He said: "Devastation for Leinster. But no doubt La Rochelle deserved to win that game. There was an inevitability to what we saw unfold over the last 10 minutes of that game.

"No nails left on the fingers here. The tension was huge, all of a sudden it felt like an away-day for Leinster, like a home game for La Rochelle.

"Leinster mismanaged that second half in key periods of it, there's no doubt, but La Rochelle played the game in the right place, played with all the territory.

"They had all of the possession, especially in the second half, and as I say it felt like an inevitability because they were definitely carrying into those zones time after time, more physical and more physical and grinding Leinster down.

"At one point you have to give out and that's what Leinster did."

Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.