Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

This is an outright silly take on things.

I was one of the people who thinks we needed some change in the coaching box, but anyone who is "happy" to see the back of Cullen has a higher level of confidence than I do about how easily sustainable this stuff is.

The grass absolutely isn't always greener. It will be no easy thing replacing him at all, and if they get the replacement decision wrong, it will have a monumental impact on both Leinster & Irish rugby.

Do you accept the premise that if he wanted to stay but Leinster / the IRFU have decided to move him on then it is highly likely he would be frustrated, resentful and possibly bitter about it all?

I don't think Leo will be short of alternative opportunities given his vast knowledge of the game and the role he has played in developing world class players. My guess he will be snapped up by one of the international teams in an Nucifora type role.

Whatever the backroom politics Leo has done a fine job in Leinster, even if he probably should have moved upstairs to a formal DOR role and off the coaching ticket years ago. Much of the credit people give him seems to be around alignment and development and he probably knows more than anyone about the development path for players from youth through to the test team. it seems obvious to me that that is a key role in Leinster over the next few years.

Isn't that what Guy Easterby does?

Leo has never coached in a country where the clubs/provinces aren't part of the same body as the international team. I don't know that anyone would be keen to pay him to facilitate it outside the island of Ireland. He's very simply never dealt with the financial or inter-body bargaining.

Agreed. There's every chance he has something lined up and it's as much him moving on to something new as much as Leinster themselves.

There is going to the biggest most expensive game of musical chairs over the next few months in rugby management with a raft of vacancies arising after RWC27.

At the highest level and in reality its a very small cohort. The IRFU probably triggered the start of it with the Andy Farrell announcement. Theres Tony Brown moving to NZ after the world cup too.

Whatever happens, Leo deserves every good fortune that comes his way.

Leo will not check out, he will give his all. As a player and manager he always has done. You heard what Caelan Doris said, the players will want him to leave on a high.

Leinster is a tricky one for ROG. In LAR he built a team around a plan and did it really well through a kind of moneyball approach, not the greatest or most expensive but players who could deliver a particular style of play. Very difficult to get right and he pulled it off. That’s not an available option in Leinster, you get your academy products and the odd addition. It’s cutting your cloth to measure rather than buying cloth.