As a coach O’Gara recognises that a fit and healthy body can only get his players so far if they do not also take care of their mental health. He has achieved success by leading his team – not only with integrity but also with compassion. O’Gara relies on honest communication and is candid about the things that went wrong as well as what succeeded – in order for his team to grow as a unit as well as individually.

O’Gara understands that the strongest player on the team can’t bring success on their own but instead it is the squad that works together which becomes a great team and is able to generate levels of adaptability, internal courage, trust, and empathy.

In any professional entity he believes “there are essentially three groups. The core group who believes in the project, a second group which doesn’t always play or feel involved, but ultimately sail or sink the vessel. And the third cohort, invariably disaffected by lack of game time or relationship with the manager, are disruptive and do everything they can to influence the middle tier in a negative way. Their glass is half empty on the way to empty. The key is to pull the middle group towards the doers and away from the moaners. You need that group, otherwise, it’s all uphill”.

Ronan O’Gara writes “When you get values and ambition aligning in the dressing room, you can move mountains. The old line resonates with me every day: ‘On your own you’ll go faster, but together we’ll go further.’ There is a lot of depth to that sentence.”