Ronan O’Gara isn’t ruling out the surprise return of Will Skelton from La Rochelle for the Champions Cup final against Leinster

Ronan O’Gara hasn’t ruled out the possibility of Will Skelton making a surprise return for La Rochelle in next week’s Heineken Champions Cup final against Leinster.

Kelton is struggling with a calf injury and while O’Gara previously explained he doesn’t expect the powerful Aussie look to be fit by next season, the La Rochelle head coach revealed Skelton is working hard to improve quickly recover ahead of schedule

The 2.03m, 140kg wallaby will not feature in La Rochelle’s crisp top-14 clash at home to Stade Francais tomorrow, but O’Gara was coy when asked on OTB AM if Skelton had a chance have to be in the European final in Marseille.

“There’s a chance in everything,” O’Gara said.

Leinster has struggled dealing with Skelton in the past when he played for Saracens, as well as in last year’s Champions Cup semi-finals when La Rochelle picked out the winners.

Calf injuries are notoriously tricky and so it seems the 30-year-old is still struggling to win his fitness race.

“No, he’s not going to play this weekend anyway unless… I have a medical appointment this afternoon,” O’Gara said.

“It’s an everyday process with Will. He’s a very important player for this group, for what we want to achieve in Europe, for what we want to do in the top 14.

“I talked to him. I told him I expect to see him in pre-season but I don’t think he’ll accept that so we’ll wait and see.”

O’Gara is expected to provide another update on Skelton’s fitness on Monday.