Time up for Cullen as Leinster lose their bottle in Bilbao
Leinster Head Coach Leo Cullen has been in charge since 2015, but delivered just one Champions Cup in over a decade. Photo: INPHO/James Crombie
This is the list from which I would choose Leo Cullen’s successor. Because after Leinster were humiliated in Saturday’s Champions Cup Final, Cullen’s position as Head Coach must surely now be untenable.
Leinster’s eight-year wait for a fifth star goes on after Bordeaux Begles ran in five first-half tries to brush aside the eastern province on a devastating scoreline of 41-19 in San Mamés Stadium, Bilbao - the scene of Leinster’s last triumph almost a decade ago.
Much has been spoken about Leinster’s quest for a fifth star and the devastating near-misses since they last won the competition in 2018.
Since then, they have been to seven semi-finals and five finals, including four of the last five, without once being able to get over the line.
Bordeaux Begles become the sixth team to win back-to-back Champions Cups as the Top 14’s dominance of the competition extends to six consecutive years of French winners.
Speaking after the game, Cullen said: “(Finals) are amazing occasions to be part of, so, you wouldn’t have it any other way that you’re at this point battling it out. If you lose a final is that failure? Listen, you could have that argument. It’s failure for us today because we had strong ambitions to try and win the game.”
He turned attentions to the URC, saying, “No one likes losing finals, but we have and we need to turn the page on to the next thing, which is we have a quarter-final next week - on to the next challenge.”
But just as the URC title did not cushion the blow of last year’s disappointing semi-final exit from the Champions Cup, nor will another URC title this season paper over the bulging cracks in this Leinster side.
Former hooker James Tracy said this week that he “would trade all six” of his URC titles “for one more winner’s medal” in the Champions Cup, to go with the one he has.
Andrew Porter infamously dismissed domestic honours ahead of the 2023 Champions Cup final when he said: “It’s about getting that fifth star – you don’t see how many URCs you have on the jersey.”
Leinster have consistently treated the URC as an afterthought, resting their biggest stars year in, year out with one eye always on having the strongest team possible available for Europe.
So, if Leinster manage to go all the way to the URC Grand Final next month and bring home their tenth league title, make no mistake - it will not salvage their season.
Several players remain from 2018 triumph, including Gary Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Luke McGrath, Tadhg Furlong, Andrew Porter, Jack Conan, Jamison Gibson-Park and Jordan Larmour, as well as players from the wider squad that season, Josh Van Der Flier, Hugo Keenan, James Lowe, Will Connors, Max Deegan and Ciaran Frawley.
World-class operators such as Caelan Doris, Dan Sheehan, Ronan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy, RG Snyman, Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane have all come into the fold since then, as well as world-class coaches including Stuart Lancaster and Jacques Nienaber.
A fish rots from the head down and Cullen has been the one to oversee Leinster’s slow decomposition.
No other club, team or franchise - in any sport - that possess the kind riches and resources available to Leinster would keep a Head Coach in situ while he was consistently failing to deliver. And it is not as though Leinster and the IRFU are short on options to make a change.
Has been with La Rochelle for seven years, winning back-to-back Champions Cups, and is someone the IRFU desperately need to bring into the fold.
The Cork man may be the front runner to replace Andy Farrell in the top job, howeber, which would make one year with Leinster less than ideal - but would at least provide a coherent pathway to the Ireland job if Farrell leaves.
Prior to being unceramoniously relieved of his duties as the All Blacks Head Coach earlier this year, Razor was the most successful head coach in Super Rugby history, breakdancing his way to seven consecutive titles with the Crusaders without ever losing a final.
Another contender for the Irish Head Coach position should Farrell step aside, Easterby served interim head coach during this year’s Six Nations.
He has been part of the Irish coaching ticket since 2014 having previously led the Scarlets to a rare URC semi-final. Ireland would not want to lose Easterby just one year out from the World Cup, but a change is often as good as a rest, so they say.
Once a teacher at Clongowes Wood, McNamara is very much ‘the one that got away’ for Leinster. He was head coach of the Ireland U20s from 2018 to 2020, winning a Grand Slam in 2019.
He spent time coaching in New Zealand and in the AIL and coached Leinster Schools and underage teams before taking up a role in the Leinster academy.
But in 2021, he took up a role with South African side, the Sharks, coaching in the URC and the Champions Cup before joining Bordeaux where he has helped them win two Champions Cups.
Forced to retire at just 28, Jones joined Rassie Erasmus’s coaching staff at Munster in 2016.
The Dubliner briefly spent time in the Ireland coaching ticket under Joe Schmidt, but joined South Africa in 2019, linking up again with Erasmus and winning the World Cup that year.
He became one of the most respected coaches on the planet, winning the World Cup with the Sprongboks again in 2023. Jones then joined England, but has since returned to South Africa.
Another Irishman winning World Cups with the Sprongboks, Flannery’s coaching career began as Arsenal FC’s Strength and Conditioning Coach.
He then joined Munster, first as scrum coach and then forwards coach, before spending five years as Lineout and Defence coach with Harlequins, and is currently South Africa’s Defence Coach.
