When La Rochelle face Leinster later this afternoon, Ronan O'Gara will once against find himself deep in enemy country but the former Ireland out-half has never been afraid of leaving his comfort zone.
As a player across 130 Test caps and 240 appearances for Munster, the Cork man won Grand Slams and Heineken Cups as Irish rugby enjoyed a golden era.
When he retired from playing, he jumped straight into an unlikely position as defence coach with Racing 92, where a once-fierce rival for the Ireland 10 shirt, Johnny Sexton, was about to start a two-year stretch with the Parisians.
O’Gara remained there for another two seasons after Sexton returned to Leinster before taking another leap into the unknown as an assistant coach at the Crusaders in New Zealand.
In 2019 he moved to La Rochelle, as head coach under director of rugby Jono Gibbs, taking over as boss when the New Zealander switched to Clermont two years later.
In terms of earning your coaching stripes, this was exposure to the premium level over a prolonged period.
But it all adds up to 13 years of ploughing his furrow away from Irish shores and he has been consistently linked with a return to either his native province or a role within the Ireland set-up.
It might be hard to give up a settled family life on the west coast of France but eventually the lure of a top coaching job in your native country becomes too strong.
If and when the 48-year-old decides to come home he’ll do so with a stellar CV that includes two Champions Cup titles, both of which came the expense of Leinster.
He still yearns for the Bouclier de Brennus, the Top 14 prize, and agonisingly fell just short in 2021 and 2023, both times to Toulouse, the second thanks to a late wonder-try from Roman Ntamack.
As the countdown to next year’s World Cup begins, so too the contract situation of the international coaches comes into the discussion.
Ireland boss Andy Farrell would have first refusal if he decided to stay on after 10 years with the IRFU, but high-performance director David Humphreys, who dovetailed with O’Gara the end of his international career, must be thinking hard about making a move.
Such was O’Gara’s stock after the second European win that a move back to Munster appeared below his pay grade.
His current contract ends in 2027. La Rochelle sit one place off the play-offs in the Top 14.
Reflecting on his side’s 60-14 defeat at the hands of Toulouse just after Christmas, O’Gara was typically honest in his Irish Examiner column.
"It's inconceivable NOT to change tack, to take a real serious look at things," he wrote.
"That also applies to my own situation here. I have a contract at La Rochelle 'til the end of the 2027 season.
"I regard us as one of the top three or four club jobs in the world, but if we draw a line from the 2023 Top 14 final at the Stade de France to now, it would be fanciful to say La Rochelle are closer to our first Bouclier than we were then.
"We are starting a new, thrilling project with young exciting talent but it will take some time.
"Have we got that time? Have I got that time?
"What were the leading players thinking on the ride home from Toulouse?
"Whether we are showing the leadership necessary to get to the mountain top, or whether that mountain top is the moon to us right now?"
The Irish Independent’s newsletter last week posed the interesting question about whether he could come back under the IRFU umbrella via Leinster?
Munster would be the romantic move but Clayton McMillan will be given time to restore their fortunes.
The cold, hard switch, should the IRFU decide they want to appoint a successor to Farrell from within, would be to take up with his dearest rivals.
Leo Cullen and Jacques Nienaber are contracted to 2027 and well established but should they fail to get over the line in Europe, patience will wear thin.
O’Gara, in late 2024, even name-checked England, alongside Ireland and France, as one of the Test positions he "would bite people’s hands off for" before signing a new deal with the Top 14 side.
The Rebel wouldn’t be afraid to take what many might see as an unpalatable move, and with the club’s budget, resources and player-profile, it’s a more appealing move for an ambitious coach.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport after naming his side to take on La Rochelle today, Cullen was asked about going up against an O’Gara-coached team, which they will do for the seventh time since 2021 today.
He said: "It's the derby mentality, isn't it? Because, I would say, I don't know for certain, but I'm guessing that Rog has a strong disliking for Leinster.
"You know he'll be motivated."
The history between the coach and the club extends beyond the white lines and even as far as the officials’ dressing room door in the Aviva in 2023 when there was some sort of coming together between a non-playing Sexton, coach Sean O’Brien and O’Gara at half-time of the final, which La Rochelle won 27-26.
That tête-à-tête would be unlikely to disqualify O’Gara but smoothing things over with his friends and family down south might be more awkward.
Whatever happens won’t happen for a while yet, however, and today presents a huge opportunity for the visitors to win a first game in four against Leinster.
The hosts, who are on the back of seven wins of varying quality, are without the injured Tadhg Furlong, Andrew Porter, Rabah Slimani, Jack Boyle, RG Snyman, Garry Ringrose and Hugo Keenan.
Stade Rochelais come fully loaded and have powerhouse lock Will Skelton, a Leinster nemesis going back to his Saracens days, in harness once more.
Apart from the 2024 quarter-final (40-13) and the 2021 semi-final (32-23), there’s never been more than a score between the teams and this one looks like it could go down to the wire as well.
Another intriguing game awaits with more a little more spice in the mix this time around.
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