Ronan O'Gara has ruled himself out of the running for the Connacht post.

Connacht boss Pat Lam announced on Monday that he would leave the PRO12 champions at the end of the season to take up the head coach role at Aviva Premiership side Bristol.

O'Gara, who joined Racing 92 in 2013 in a coaching capacity, has distanced himself from the vacancy, in his column for the Irish Examiner, leaving Grenoble coach Bernard Jackman the favourite to replace Lam.

"Connacht haven't been in touch with me," O'Gara wrote. "Even if they had, it's just too early for me to consider something like that at home.

"I don't want to give up what we have at Racing at this stage, I am too interested in it, too much invested in it just to up sticks.

"Racing were in the final of the European Cup and won the Top 14 last season. It doesn't get much better than that. And that didn't materialise overnight, more than three years work has gone into that.

"I am 39 now. I have time. If I was going home to Ireland, it mightn't even be for coaching. Nobody should pigeon-hole themselves into career boxes."