It is a measure of the value placed on Leo Cullen within Leinster and by the IRFU that he is set to extend his tenure as the province’s head coach into a dozen seasons.
Having taken over from Matt O’Connor before the start of the 2015-16 campaign, Cullen has agreed a new two-year contract extension to keep him in the role until the end of the 2026-27 season.
Despite some of the noise outside the organisation and disgruntlement among some supporters in light of three seasons without a trophy, including three losing Champions Cup finals, Cullen’s in-depth knowledge of the Leinster set-up is seen as providing some invaluable stability.
After arriving six weeks into last season when succeeding Stuart Lancaster after his impactful seven seasons as head coach with the province, Jacques Nienaber is in his second campaign with Leinster, while Tyler Bleyendaal is in his first as attack coach after Andrew Goodman was co-opted on to the Irish coaching ticket.
As with Lancaster and Goodman, Nienaber and Bleyendaal, along with Seán O’Brien, were brought on board by Cullen. Furthermore, Shane Nolan succeeded Mick Dawson after his 21 years as chief executive of Leinster.
Cullen has again broken his habit of signing one-year contracts, as he did during his first eight seasons as Leinster head coach, having also signed a two-year 2023 deal for last season and this.
The 46-year-old first represented Leinster at schoolboy level in 1995 and enjoyed two productive seven-year spells as a player either side of two seasons with Leicester Tigers, including winning the Premiership in 2007. He won four iterations of what is now the URC as a player in 2001-02, ‘07-’08, ‘12-’13 and ‘13-’14, the latter two as captain, and became the first player to lift the Champions Cup three times as a captain in 2008-09, ‘10-’11 and ‘11-’12, as well as captaining Leinster to the Challenge Cup in 2012-13.
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Leinster earned a fourth star in 2018 by beating Racing 92 in the final in Bilbao and also won four URC titles in a row from 2018 to 2021, although in the last three seasons they have come up short in three Champions Cup finals and three URC semi-finals.
But the province have also backed Cullen with the high-profile signings of RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett, while his work ethic and integrity are also highly valued by the IRFU, as is his ability to develop homegrown talent, not least as Leinster have remained bulk suppliers to the most successful Irish team ever.
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