Leo Cullen is to remain as head coach at Leinster for another two years, so ensuring a degree of continuity and a calming, steady hand on the tiller given Stuart Lancaster is moving on to become head coach at Racing 92 and the likelihood that this will be Johnny Sexton’s last season with the province.
Cullen, who captained Leinster to their first three Heineken Champions Cup wins in 2009, 2011 and 2012, has often noted with irony at the length of his role as a “caretaker” coach since being promoted from his role as forwards coach following the departure of Matt O’Connor before the end of the 2014-15 season.
“When I started off in this role, I was given this caretaker title, which is sort of the way I still feel, it’s like a caretaker-type role,” he noted last September as speculation intensified that Lancaster would be ending his six-year stint with Leinster and Cullen reasoned that the province is essentially always in transition.
A year after retiring as a player, the former Leinster and Ireland lock was appointed head coach sooner than had been planned and initially was appointed on a temporary basis before agreeing to a two-year contract for the start of the 2015-16 season.
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His first campaign was not especially successful, as Leinster went out at the pool stages in Europe and lost the Pro12 final against Connacht, on foot of which he brought Lancaster on board. After an upturn in performances, success followed in the 2017-18 season when Leinster won the double of Champions Cup and Pro14, going on to retain the latter three times while reaching two more finals in the Champions Cup and a semi-final.
Now in his eighth season at the helm with Leinster, Cullen’s overall vision, leadership and work ethic drives the Leinster machine. He has previously preferred to sign one-year rolling contracts but, perhaps recognising Leinster’s need for stability, The Irish Times understands that he had agreed to another two-year deal.
[ Sexton fully focused on final championship of his celebrated careerOpens in new window ]
To make the transition at the province as smooth as possible in light of Lancaster and Sexton moving on, Cullen and the Leinster hierarchy are also working toward a settled if slightly readjusted coaching ticket. No decision is expected to be made until after the Six Nations, but Andrew Goodman and Seán O’Brien, who this season replaced Felipe Contepomi and Denis Leamy as assistant coach and contact skills coach, along with forwards coach Robin McBryde are all expected to stay on.
Goodman, who spent two years as a centre with Leinster from 2012 to 2014, has made a big impression since joining from the Crusaders, where he was attack coach. He has assumed more responsibility as the season has progressed and could well continue to do so in effectively replacing Lancaster from next season onwards.
Although Contepomi was also highly regarded for his attention to detail, his relative calmness as a coach compared to his playing days, his individual work with players and his launch plays, Leinster’s strike plays have become sharper this season under Goodman’s influence.
The latest prime example of this was their opening try in the 15th minute against Racing 92 last Saturday at the Aviva Stadium from a lineout just inside the opposition 10-metre line.
From Joe McCarthy’s off the top ball to Jamison Gibson-Park, Jordan Larmour came in off his blindside wing as first receiver before Jamie Osborne pulled the ball back behind the decoy run of Caelan Doris to Ross Byrne.
With Larmour continuing to loop behind for another ball out the back, Byrne drew the Racing centre Olivier Klemenczak before hitting Garry Ringrose’s hard line against the grain with a short flat pass and Ringrose made a clean break before veering left and putting Jimmy O’Brien over.
Hardly one player was touched as each Leinster player executed his role to perfection.
It looks increasingly likely that Goodman will continue to assume more of an influence, so allowing Cullen scope to bring in someone else on the coaching ticket.
