Ronan O’Gara, Ireland’s most capped player and top points scorer, announced his retirement from rugby union on Saturday and will take up a coaching role at big-spending French club Racing Metro.
The 36-year-old flyhalf scored 1,083 points in 128 matches for Ireland and won two Test caps across three tours with the British and Irish Lions (2001, ’05 and ’09).
“I have ambitions in the years ahead to coach at a high level and, with this in mind, I can confirm now that I will be joining Racing Metro’s coaching staff in July,” O’Gara wrote in a column in the Irish Examiner newspaper.
Munster, O’Gara’s club side since 1997, said his feat of scoring a record 1,365 points in the European Cup is “unlikely to be surpassed.”
O’Gara played a record 240 games for Munster, helping the province win the European Cup in 2006 and ’08.
He also played a key part in Ireland’s Grand Slam-winning campaign in the Six Nations in 2009, sealing the title with the match-winning drop goal against Wales at Millennium Stadium.
“The news that Ronan O’Gara has decided to retire from playing draws to a close an incredible career in which he established himself as an iconic figure in Irish rugby over the past decade or so,” Irish Rugby Football Union chief executive Philip Browne said.
“Irish rugby will undoubtedly miss his extraordinary talents, but it is pleasing to see him continue his career within the game.”
O’Gara will be the kicking specialist at Racing, whose string of high-profile recruits for next season include Ireland flyhalf Jonathan Sexton and Wales stars Jamie Roberts and Dan Lydiate.
O’Gara’s tally of Test points leaves him fourth on the all-time list, behind New Zealand’s Dan Carter, England’s Jonny Wilkinson and Neil Jenkins of wales.
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