THE good news for Ronan O'Gara? He'll be right in the thick of it when, alongside the super-trendy All Blacks coach-in-waiting, Scott Robertson, he oversees the Barbarians in their meeting with a New Zealand XV at Twickenham in November. The bad news? He may be a little out of practice.
Not for the first time, the revered No 10 from Munster has found himself in scalding water with the French authorities for allowing too much of his inner Limerick to rise to the surface. The La Rochelle boss is now serving a six-week touchline ban for “disregarding the authority of a match official” during a Top 14 meeting with Lyon earlier this month.
This follows a well-publicised meeting of minds with the Bordeax coach Christophe Urios and a flare-up during a match with Racing 92, both incidents occurring within a very short period back in the spring.
Does he not know his place? This kind of thing has always been the preserve of ex-forwards: Dean Ryan, Steve Diamond, Richard Cockerill and like-minded ruffians. Gentler souls like Wayne Smith or Marcelo Loffreda – creative spirits from the backline community – never mixed it with the ref.
One exception: the former Ireland fullback Conor O'Shea – an urbane establishment type as a general rule – famously lost it with a referee after a Harlequins match at London Welsh and, the story goes, was summoned to explain himself to selected members of the Twickenham hierarchy.
“Typical,” muttered one of his fellow Premiership coaches, who had run into trouble at much the same time. “I cop a touchline ban when I go overboard; Conor has lunch with the top brass.” Then, after a pause, he added: “Thinking about it, I came out ahead.”
