RONAN O’GARA SAYS he is not interested in replacing Graham Rowntree as Munster boss and that he is unlikely to ever return to his native province in a head-coaching role.

O’Gara, who is contracted to La Rochelle until 2027, wrote in his Irish Examiner column that he hoped his next job would be in test rugby.

The longtime Munster and Ireland out-half stressed his belief that Munster’s solution was “already in the building” in the shape of his former teammates Mike Prendergast and Denis Leamy.

O’Gara backed Munster’s current backs and defence coaches to lead the province into the future with the help of an additional, more seasoned figure.

“The news on Graham’s departure shocked me,” O’Gara said. “I didn’t expect that. There is a human side to it. I’m not sure how aligned Rowntree and his staff were. Only the people in the building know what’s going on. We on the outside don’t have a clue, really.

The greatest days of my rugby life were in that Munster top but I’m not interested in the Munster head coach role. Not now and hardly in the future.

O’Gara added that “the competitor in me demands that I try and win a Bouclier here (at La Rochelle) and another Champions Cup with it. And I feel I have a better chance of doing that with La Rochelle than with Munster.

“Anyone who would suggest that taking Munster now at a low ebb is a smart play doesn’t know Munster, doesn’t know me and does both a disservice.”

O’Gara, who won two European Cups with Munster as a player and has added two more during his spell in charge of Les Rochelais, insisted that Mike Prendergast and Denis Leamy should step into more senior roles with Munster and that the southern province should recruit a more experienced figure to complement that prospective coaching tandem.

The Cork man rejected the idea that Prendergast “would not be strong enough or is not blockbuster enough” to take on the boss’ role with his native province, backing the former scrum-half to become director of rugby in a move that would require a transformation of Munster’s existing coaching structure.

O’Gara reiterated on several occasions, however, that trouble behind the scenes and financial pressures pre-dated even the Graham Rowntree era, describing the dynamic between Munster and Leinster as now being akin to that of an English Championship football club and a European giant.

“These are turbulent times, but the solution for their next head coach is already in the building with a combo of Mike Prendergast and Denis Leamy,” O’Gara said.

“Plus there is a possible add of someone else with gravitas and judgement, an elder lemon.

“Prendy has been on the road for 11 years, cultivating his rugby knowledge around France to get it to a level commensurate with the duties and role of a head coach. He knows rugby inside out, he knows Munster inside out, that’s why it works.

“Some will be of the misconception that he would not be strong enough or is not blockbuster enough to be a numero uno. Believe me he is more than strong enough to be the boss.

“Where I would potentially see a third person is as a sounding board with Leamy and himself. But Prendy as the director of rugby. Munster will be better if Leamy and Prendergast are given more control. Felix Jones has been mentioned but is less experienced than Prendergast.

“Of course, the Munster elephant in the room is that the current instability has very little to do with who’s coaching the team.

“There are financial and environmental issues that pre-date Graham Rowntree’s time, and when you wash in some inter-personal stuff into that mix, it all has the feel of disarray.

“In purely economic terms, a fact not lost on the departing head coach, Munster and Leinster has the feel (if not quite the look) of Cardiff City against Manchester City.”