Ronan John Ross O'Gara (born 7 March 1977) is an Irish rugby union coach. O'Gara played as a fly-half and is Ireland's third most-capped player and second highest points scorer. He is head coach of Stade Rochelais in the French Top 14.
O'Gara won 128 caps for Ireland, winning three Triple Crowns and the Grand Slam in 2009. He also played on three British & Irish Lions tours, winning two caps. He played for sixteen seasons with Munster, with whom he won two Heineken Cups.
O'Gara is the tenth most-capped and is the sixth highest points scorer in the history of test rugby. He is Munster's all-time leading scorer, and holds the Heineken Cup record for points and caps. O'Gara scored match-winning drop goals for Munster and Ireland, including in the Wales vs Ireland match in the 2009 Six Nations Championship, in which Ireland won the Grand Slam.
After retiring from playing, O'Gara coached Racing 92’s defence in 2013. He become Crusaders‘s assistant defence coach in 2018. O'Gara became head coach of Stade Rochelais one year later, guiding them to three European Cup finals. The club beat Leinster in both the 2022 and 2023 finals.
Early life O'Gara was born in San Diego, California, where his father, Fergal, was working as a post–doctoral fellow in microbiology. His father had also played wing for the UCG club in Connacht. His family moved back to Ireland when he was six months old.
O'Gara attended Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh primary school, before moving to Bishopstown Community School where his mother was a teacher. His mother is originally from County Mayo. After a year, his parents sent him to Presentation Brothers College, Cork, where he won a Junior Cup medal in 1992 and a Senior Cup medal in 1995. It was at Pres where O'Gara first came into contact with Declan Kidney, who was head of rugby at the school. Kidney would later go on to coach O'Gara with both Munster and Ireland.
O'Gara attended University College Cork and won an All-Ireland Under-20 medal in 1996. He graduated with a B.A. and a master's degree in Business Economics in 1999.
Munster
1997–2007 O'Gara made his Munster debut alongside longtime Munster and Ireland teammate David Wallace against Connacht in August 1997, scoring 19 points. O'Gara's Heineken Cup debut came against Harlequins in September 1997 in the 1997–98 Heineken Cup. O'Gara kicked 15 points, but Munster lost the game 48–40. He started for Munster in the 2000 Heineken Cup Final, which Northampton Saints won 8–9, and again in the 2002 Heineken Cup Final, which Leicester Tigers won 15–9.
O'Gara's last minute conversion against Gloucester on 18 January 2003 helped Munster to a 27-point victory which took them through to the Heineken Cup quarter final; this match has come to be known in Munster folklore as the Miracle Match. He was part of the Munster team that won the 2002–03 Celtic League, starting and scoring 12 points as Munster beat Neath 37–17 in the Millennium Stadium. O'Gara turned down the chance to join the NFL's Miami Dolphins in March 2003. He started when Munster beat Llanelli Scarlets to win the Celtic Cup in May 2005, scoring 17 points in the game.
O'Gara played a key part in Munster's Heineken Cup winning team of 2006. O'Gara had an important role in Munster's semi-final victory over rivals Leinster by scoring 20 points, including a 77th minute try. On 20 May 2006, O'Gara kicked 13 points in Munster's first Heineken Cup Final victory over Biarritz at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
On 22 October 2006, O'Gara kicked a last minute penalty from inside his own half to win Munster a 21–19 victory over Leicester Tigers in the first round of the pool stages at Welford Road. O'Gara scored 15 points during Munster's win in the 2006–07 Heineken Cup pool game against French side Bourgoin on 14 January 2007. He kicked 5 points in Munster's quarter-final defeat to Scarlets on 30 March 2007.
2008–2013 On 19 January 2008, O'Gara captained Munster to victory against Wasps in their final pool match of the 2007–08 Heineken Cup, knocking the incumbent champions out and making it through to quarter finals of the cup for the tenth consecutive season. On 24 May 2008, O'Gara won his second Heineken Cup medal as Munster beat Toulouse 16–13 in the 2008 Heineken Cup Final, with O'Gara scoring 11 points.
O'Gara scored a penalty with three minutes left to beat Montauban in the first game of the 2008–09 Heineken Cup and the first Heineken Cup game in the new Thomond Park. On 13 December 2008, O'Gara became the first player to score 1,000 points in the Heineken Cup, when he scored a last minute conversion against Clermont.
On 16 May 2010, O'Gara was awarded the ERC European Player Award, crediting him as the player who had made the greatest contribution to European Rugby during the first 15 years of the Heineken Cup. The selection panel consisted of Sir Ian McGeechan, Lawrence Dallaglio, Ieuan Evans, Fabien Galthié, Donal Lenihan, Michael Lynagh, Stuart Barnes, Stephen Jones and Jacques Verdier.
O'Gara crossed the 2,000-point mark for Munster against Ospreys in a Celtic League game on 18 September 2010. In November 2010, he extended his contract with Munster and the IRFU until 2013. He became the fourth Munster player to win 200 caps in a Celtic League game against Ospreys on 23 April 2011. In May 2011, O'Gara was part of the Munster team that beat arch-rivals and newly crowned Heineken Cup champions Leinster 19–9 in the 2011 Magners League Grand Final at Thomond Park.
On 12 November 2011, O'Gara scored an 84th minute drop-goal after 41 phases of play to secure victory for Munster in their opening 2011–12 Heineken Cup Pool One game against Northampton Saints. A week later, in Munster's second Pool One game away to Castres Olympique, O'Gara again scored a match-winning drop-goal, this time in the 81st minute.
On 10 December 2011, O'Gara became only the second player, the first being his Munster colleague John Hayes, to win 100 caps in the Heineken Cup. He achieved the feat in Munster's third pool game, away to Scarlets, which Munster won 14–17, with O'Gara contributing 12 points with his boot. The following week, O'Gara scored 14 points in the home tie against Scarlets, helping Munster to a 19–13 victory. He became the most capped Heineken Cup player ever on 14 January 2012, when Munster played Castres in Round 5 of the 2011–12 Heineken Cup, scoring 16 points along the way in a 26–10 win for Munster. In Munster's final pool game against Northampton Saints, O'Gara scored 24 points as Munster won 51–36. O'Gara announced in March 2012 that he planned to continue playing rugby until he was 38, quashing rumours of his retirement.
On 13 October 2012, O'Gara scored a penalty and conversion before going off injured in the 34th minute in Munster's 22–17 defeat against Racing Métro 92 in their 2012–13 Heineken Cup opener. As a result, O'Gara missed Munster's bonus-point victory against Edinburgh in Round 2, but he returned and scored 15 points in Munster's next pool game against Saracens, which saw Munster scrape a win. He became Munster's most capped player ever on 5 January 2013, when he won his 233rd cap against Cardiff Blues. O'Gara was cited and banned for one week after kicking Edinburgh's Sean Cox in the Heineken Cup round 4 fixture between the two sides, which ruled him out of Munsters 29–6 victory over Racing Metro which secured qualification from the group stages. He kicked all of Munster's points in their 12–18 Heineken Cup quarter-final victory over Harlequins on 7 April 2013. O'Gara kicked five points for Munster in their 16–10 Heineken Cup semi-final defeat to Clermont Auvergne on 27 April 2013.
O'Gara announced his retirement on 18 May 2013, after weeks of speculation.
Ireland
1999–2003
O'Gara won a cap for Ireland A on 9 April 1999, against Italy A during a friendly. He was selected in Ireland's preliminary training squad for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, but was not chosen for the tournament, with the Irish management deciding to take two fly-halves and an extra prop instead of three fly-halves. O'Gara was in the Munster team that beat Ireland in a warm-up for the tournament.
O'Gara won his first international cap for Ireland against Scotland on 19 February 2000 during the 2000 Six Nations Championship. O'Gara scored all of Ireland's points in their 18–9 win over Australia at Lansdowne Road in the Autumn Tests of 2002. He was a member of Ireland's 2003 Rugby World Cup squad, and played in all four Pool matches against Romania, Namibia, Argentina and Australia, and in the quarter-final loss to France. In total, O'Gara scored 30 points during his first Rugby World Cup.
2004–2007 O'Gara scored all of Ireland's points in a 17–12 win over South Africa at Lansdowne Road on 13 November 2004. Two weeks later, on 27 November, O'Gara kicked a last-minute drop goal to give Ireland a 21–19 victory over Argentina. O'Gara won the Man of the Match awards against both South Africa and Argentina. In 2004, he was named RTÉ Sports Person of the Year. In 2006, he overtook David Humphreys as Ireland's highest points scorer. In the same season, he won the Triple Crown with Ireland in the 2006 Six Nations Championship.
On 11 February 2007, O'Gara scored the first Irish international try at Croke Park in the 2007 Six Nations Championship loss to France. On 10 March 2007, O'Gara once again scored all of Ireland's points to win the Triple Crown at Murrayfield, beating Scotland 19–18. On 24 August 2007, in Ireland's final 2007 Rugby World Cup warm-up against Italy at Ravenhill in Belfast, O'Gara scored and converted a controversial try nine minutes into stoppage time, winning the match 23–20 after Italy had taken the lead with their own stoppage-time try. O'Gara finished the match with 18 points.
O'Gara was a member of Ireland's 2007 Rugby World Cup squad. He started all four of Ireland's pool games, against Namibia, Georgia, France and Argentina, scoring 19 points in total. Ireland failed to make the quarter finals of the tournament. During the tournament, rumours of a breakdown in his marriage and large gambling debts, both denied by O'Gara, were reported by the French media.
2008–2011 On 11 March 2008, O'Gara was named as Ireland team captain for the first time in his career, leading the side in the Six Nations match against England at Twickenham.
On 14 March 2009, O'Gara overtook Jonny Wilkinson to become the top Six Nations point scorer ever. On 20 March 2009, he scored a late drop goal in the 78th minute to beat Wales and secure for Ireland their first Grand Slam for 61 years. O'Gara started against Australia in the first match of Ireland's 2009 November Series, scoring 10 points. He then lost his place in the starting line-up to Johnny Sexton and did not play against Fiji or South Africa.
O'Gara regained the fly-half spot in Ireland's opening 2010 Six Nations Championship games against Italy and France, but was back on the bench for the remaining three games. He had a 100% kicking record for the 2010 Six Nations. O'Gara was selected in Ireland's squad for their 2010 Summer Tour to New Zealand and Australia, and started against New Zealand, converting 3 tries, but was on the bench for the Australia test. O'Gara became the third Irishman to win 100 caps when he came off the bench during Ireland's first 2010 Autumn Series test against South Africa. He started against Samoa and scored 15 points, including a try. He came off the bench against New Zealand and Argentina.
O'Gara came off the bench against Italy and France in the 2011 Six Nations Championship, and started against Scotland, winning the title of Man of the Match. He started against Wales and became the first Irishman to score over 1,000 points in international matches. He came off the bench against England, as Ireland prevented them from winning a Grand Slam.