Shocked.

Ronan O’Gara has had his say on the Munster Rugby head coach position following Graham Rowntree’s shock exit earlier this week.

Rowntree and Munster parted ways after a difficult start to the season in a move that has rocked the rugby world.

O’Gara says the news “shocked” him as it did everybody else.

“The news on Graham’s departure shocked me. I didn’t expect that,” O’Gara wrote in his Irish Examiner column.

“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.”

O’Gara has been linked with the role, given his storied history with his home province but the La Rochelle boss has made it clear he is not interested as he is contracted with the French side until 2027, and the fact that he would like his next job to be with an international side.

“The greatest days of my rugby life were in that Munster top but I’m not interested in the Munster head coach role,” he added.

“Not now and hardly in the future. For starters I am contracted to La Rochelle until 2027, the competitor in me demands that I try and win a Bouclier here 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. Why would you take over any job? Because you think you could do better. The game of life is you against you, not anyone else. Munster is in my heart but not my head now. Besides, I would hope my next coaching move is into the Test arena.”

In terms of the job itself, O’Gara thinks Mike Prendergast and Denis Leamy should take the reigns.

“The solution for their next head coach is already in the building with a combo of Mike Prendergast and Denis Leamy. Plus there is a possible add of someone else with gravitas and judgement, an elder lemon,” he wrote.

“Prendy has been on the road for eleven 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… 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.”