“I dream of winning things, whether it’s with Ireland or France – I like it.” 

Galthie is on his second term as France head coach, on a contract that runs through to the next Rugby World Cup in 2027. There is no genuine suggestion right now, despite a poor start to this year’s Six Nations, that his tenure at Marcoussis will be cut short.

O’Gara said it would be Galthie’s job or nothing, if the FFR were to come knocking closer to the time. “Be a member of the staff? I don’t think so,” he said. “When you’ve had a taste of the number one position, of those responsibilities, it’s difficult [to not be in overall charge].”

But the La Rochelle manager also recognised that there’s one major stumbling block to a possible future candidacy for the France job. In 2019, former FFR president Bernard Laporte considered bringing in either Warren Gatland or Joe Schmidt to head up the national squad. But in a referendum, French rugby clubs rejected the possibility of a non-French coach heading up the national squad.

Gatland had never coached in France, but Schmidt had spent several years with Clermont, and speaks French to a high standard. That, however, was not enough for French rugby to consider him head coach material.

“I’m not French,” O’Gara said, adding, “I’m trying to prove myself and put my name into the debate.

“It’s possible that, for Ireland, the next coach will be from New Zealand, South Africa, or Australia – that’s just the way it is.” 

For now, however, O’Gara has more pressing concerns than his possible future international coaching ambitions, as his La Rochelle side, whose defence of their Champions Cup crown ended in Dublin, fight for a place in the Top 14’s post-season play-offs.

After winning the Champions Cup last season, La Rochelle reached the Top 14 final, only to be denied a historic double – and a first French championship – by Romain Ntamack’s late, late wonder-try.

But their route to that final was much more straightforward. They finished second in the table, and qualified automatically for the semi-finals. This season, with five matches of the regular season left, the Rochelais are hanging on to the sixth and final play-off spot.

They are two points clear of seventh-placed Pau, out of the play-off zone, and three ahead of Castres, in ninth – the wrong side of the Champions Cup cut-off.

“If we don't perform well, we won’t be in the top six. If we do, the only other team with a winning culture is Toulouse. Right now it’s 70/30 towards them, but if we get to the final, it’ll be 50/50. The other teams haven’t won any titles, and that’s going to count for something in the rest of the competition.” 

O’Gara is desperate to add another Bouclier de Brennus to his list of titles as a coach, after winning a first with Racing 92 in 2016. “We’ve already won two European Cup titles,” he said, “but that's not enough, even if some people think it is.

“I’m a liar if I say that everything is good because everything is not good… in the Top 14, it’s in the crisis that you find something you don’t know about your team.”