{"id":512528,"date":"2026-06-22T11:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T11:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/512528\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T11:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T11:56:08","slug":"leo-cullen-will-leave-leinster-head-coach-role-at-the-end-of-next-season-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/512528\/","title":{"rendered":"Leo Cullen will leave Leinster head coach role at the end of next season \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leinster<\/a>\u2019s Leo Cullen<\/a> will step away from his role at the end of his contract following the conclusion of the 2026\/27 season.<\/p>\n

Cullen will depart after 12 years in the job, having won a Champions Cup<\/a> in 2018 and six URC titles.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the end of next season, in 2027, I will have been in my current job for 12 years. It\u2019ll also be 32 years since I first represented Leinster as a Schools player! So, I think the timing will be right for me to move on to a new challenge,\u201d Cullen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI managed 10 years as a player on different Leinster teams before moving to Leicester in 2005 and then returning to Leinster in 2007 to go on to experience some of the most amazing days imaginable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs many of you will know, I\u2019m committed to Leinster up until the end of next season, and I intend to honour my contract, as I always have done.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re moving back to Laya Arena at the start of next season, and we can\u2019t wait for that homecoming. We also have players leaving Leinster and other players who\u2019ll potentially be coming in. So, I think it\u2019s good to have continuity and certainty heading into the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

After retiring from playing in 2014, Cullen remained at Leinster as a forwards coach. He then became head coach in 2015. He became the first person to win the top European Rugby trophy as a player and a coach, when his Leinster side defeating Racing 92 in the Champions Cup final in May 2018, having already won it three times as a player.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeinster Rugby, in collaboration with the IRFU, will immediately begin a formal recruitment process to ensure that the best possible candidate is secured for the position,\u201d Leinster said about their search for his successor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leinster\u2019s Leo Cullen will step away from his role at the end of his contract following the conclusion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,11287,28577,112],"class_list":["post-512528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-leo-cullen","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}