{"id":540833,"date":"2026-07-09T10:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T10:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/540833\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T10:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T10:40:11","slug":"humphreys-open-to-potential-ogara-leinster-appointment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/540833\/","title":{"rendered":"Humphreys open to potential O’Gara Leinster appointment"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Humphreys has hinted he would be open to the possibility of Ronan O’Gara becoming the next Leinster head coach in 2027.<\/p>\n

With Leo Cullen stepping down next summer after what will be 12 years in charge of the province, IRFU performance director Humphreys is set to be involved with Leinster CEO Shane Nolen and chief operating officer Guy Easterby in recruiting his successor.<\/p>\n

O’Gara\u2019s contract with La Rochelle is due to expire next summer, and while the former Ireland out-half is yet to formally declare an interest in becoming the next Leinster coach, his record in France and his international ambitions have made him an obvious candidate.<\/p>\n

The only real issues that could present themselves would be how some Leinster supporters would react to the idea of a Munster great becoming their next coach, as well as their recent rivalry with O\u2019Gara\u2019s La Rochelle.<\/p>\n

Speaking this week at Ireland\u2019s team base in Sydney, Humphreys (below) indicated he would be open to the possibility.<\/p>\n

\"30<\/p>\n

“Of course, I would say he’ll be a candidate for every job that comes up in Ireland,” Humphreys said.<\/p>\n

“I met ROG two or three months ago when La Rochelle were in Belfast, and we talked about where his coaching ambitions were.”<\/p>\n

Munster\u2019s record points scorer has spent the last 13 years coaching in New Zealand and France since retiring from playing in 2013, winning a Top14 as an assistant with Racing 92, and two Super Rugby titles with the Crusaders.<\/p>\n

Since becoming head coach at La Rochelle in 2019, he has led the French side to two Champions Cup wins, and multiple appearances in the Top14 final.<\/p>\n

“He’s done what so many good coaches have done \u2013 he has gone, he has left Ireland, he has got experience throughout the world, he’s been successful.<\/p>\n

“And we’re in a fortunate position that we have got some really, really good Irish coaches and somebody coming into the Irish system, because it is slightly unique, it’s definitely a positive in terms of where the recruitment goes.<\/p>\n

“But as I said, there will be a long list of very well qualified coaches [interested], of which I would assume ROG will be one,” Humphreys added.<\/p>\n

\"23<\/p>\n

The IRFU performance director said he would hope he and the province can find a suitable candidate “as soon as possible”, but clarified there is no definitive timeline on when they expect to have an appointment.<\/p>\n

Humphreys also took time to pay tribute to Cullen\u2019s (above) legacy at Leinster.<\/p>\n

“When you look back at his career in Leinster, he’s spent 30 of the last 32 years in the province. The impact he’s had as a player and as a director of rugby is unbelievable,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Yes, some people will make it all about trophies, but it’s not about that. You look at the work that he’s done, the environment that he’s created in Leinster, the club that he’s created in Leinster, the number of players that have come through the pathway to play for Ireland. And not just play for Ireland, play for Leinster, play for all the other provinces.<\/p>\n

“And the legacy that he leaves, he will leave big shoes to fill.”<\/p>\n

The former Ulster and Ireland out-half spoke addressed a wide range of issues from across the last year in Irish rugby, with James Lowe\u2019s departure from Leinster high on the agenda.<\/p>\n

The Ireland international wing has been left out of this summer tour, and his international career appears to be over, after it was confirmed last month that he would be leaving Leinster.<\/p>\n

Lowe\u2019s contract at Leinster, which expires this summer, had the option of an additional year, which would have been triggered if both parties opted into it.<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s believed that Leinster opted out of the additional year earlier this season, before presenting Lowe (below) with a different contract offer on reduced terms.<\/p>\n

\"19<\/p>\n

The wing has never been on a central contract with the IRFU, but the union have supplemented his contract with what is known as a PONI (Player of National Interest) payment.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve said anytime I’ve been asked about it that we are very disappointed to see James leave the Irish system. He has been an unbelievable player for both Leinster and Ireland since he arrived,” Humphreys said.<\/p>\n

“He has been on a provincial contract. He has never been on a national contract, and the negotiations to extend around his current contract were with Leinster.”<\/p>\n

There have been conflicting reports that the IRFU either did not offer a PONI payment as part of Lowe\u2019s new contract, or that the top-up they offered was incentivised, based on appearances.<\/p>\n

But Humphreys insists that Lowe would have remained part of the PONI scheme if he remained with Leinster.<\/p>\n

“From an IRFU point of view, there has been a lot of reporting which has been inaccurate, around the fact that we did support the contract with a PONI payment, but details beyond that, it’s inappropriate [to comment further].<\/p>\n

“So while we’re disappointed to see James leave, it’s about making sure the next person coming in gets the opportunity to become as good a player as he was, and that’s where we’ve got to.<\/p>\n

“I think again, rather than to talk about it now, James was made an offer, it was a provincial contract, it was always a provincial contract. There are a number of other similar provincial contracts which are supported by PONI payments throughout the Irish system.<\/p>\n

“This was a very similar contract to that, but outside of that, the details are confidential.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Humphreys has hinted he would be open to the possibility of Ronan O’Gara becoming the next Leinster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-540833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540833","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=540833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}