O'Gara played as a fly-half and is Ireland 's second most-capped player [ 2 ] and second highest points scorer. He is currently head coach of La Rochelle in the French Top 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.
Since his retirement from playing, O'Gara has undertaken a coaching career. O'Gara began coaching in with French club Racing 92 as the club's defence coach before becoming the assistant defence coach of the New Zealand club Crusaders in O'Gara took up his first head coach role in when he returned to France and was announced as the new coach of Stade Rochelais.
Since taking over as head coach, O'Gara has guided La Rochelle to three European Cup finals , the second of which in the final they beat Leinster to claim the club's first ever major silverware, with a repeat performance in Dublin in the final. O'Gara was born in San Diego, California , [ 5 ] [ 6 ] 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.
Kidney would later go on to coach O'Gara with both Munster and Ireland. O'Gara kicked 15 points, but Munster lost the game 48— O'Gara's last minute conversion against Gloucester on 18 January helped Munster to a 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. O'Gara played a key part in Munster's Heineken Cup winning team of 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 22 October , 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. On 19 January , O'Gara captained Munster to victory against Wasps in their final pool match of the —08 Heineken Cup , knocking the incumbent champions out and making it through to quarter finals of the cup for the tenth consecutive season. O'Gara scored a penalty with three minutes left to beat Montauban in the first game of the —09 Heineken Cup and the first Heineken Cup game in the new Thomond Park.
