Ronan O’Gara interview: ‘Your title is the boss ... but you should be approachable, one of the components of the jigsaw, not the jigsaw itself’

Once Ireland’s talismanic out-half and now director of rugby at La Rochelle, rugby remains a game of tight margins and small but vital details for O’Gara. In this interview, he holds forth on the relentless pressure of the sport, the dynamics between coaches and players, and his hatred of losing

Ronan O’Gara: ‘The days of ruling by fear in a sporting environment – its shelf life is finished. What you look to do now is try to get a lot of players who have a desire to make themselves better and make the team better. That, for me, is when things start happening’

Ronan O’Gara grins as he settles into a leather armchair. There’s an elegant wooden table between us and large spotlights illuminate what was the set for a broadcast interview a few moments ago. “A bit formal, isn’t it?” he says.

We’re upstairs in a Dublin hotel. It’s still early in the day, but you get the impression O’Gara has been on the go for a few hours, talking to journalists between standing in for photographs ...