Whatever else the Leinster hierarchy and David Humphreys do, from a purely selfish, media-slanted perspective, you’d hope they take their time identifying and anointing Leo Cullen’s successor at the end of next season. This could be fun.
It’s been almost seven years since the IRFU last had to appoint an Ireland head coach and it will be another five-plus years, all going well, before they are obliged to do so again. It’s been 11 years since the IRFU ratified a new Leinster head coach.
All of this is very settled, and a sign of good husbandry, but it makes the Leinster succession stakes all the more intriguing, not least as the Leinster and Ireland roles are inextricably linked. After all, it was Joe Schmidt’s trophy-laden three years at Leinster that made his promotion to Ireland head coach such a fait accompli.
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As Peter O’Mahony has noted, the IRFU like to appoint Ireland head and assistant coaches from within. Indeed, Warren Gatland, Eddie O’Sullivan, Declan Kidney, Schmidt and Farrell all became head coach from an assistant role with the national team, or directly from one of the provinces.
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So it was entirely “logical”, as O’Mahony reasoned, that Humphreys should reveal to the travelling media corps in Sydney this week that he met Ronan O’Gara last April to discuss where his future coaching ambitions lay. Given O’Gara’s success abroad, Humphreys said: “Of course, I would say he’ll be a candidate for every job that comes up in Ireland.”
Humphreys would be foolish not to want O’Gara back in Ireland and in the Irish coaching system. There’s also little doubt that the job O’Gara would most covet is that of Ireland head coach, and the best stepping stone to that goal would probably be to coach Leinster.
More than at any point before, as the only URC team to reach Champions Cup finals in the last 14 seasons, and as the back-to-back URC champions, Leinster remain Irish rugby’s most viable contenders to win silverware.
Farrell’s ultimate successor will almost certainly come from within his own assistant coaching ticket or from one of the four provinces. Four years is an eternity these days. Who knows what Stuart Lancaster, Clayton McMillan and Richie Murphy might achieve in the next four seasons, or what Cullen does next. Simon Easterby, Noel McNamara, Scott Robertson could all enter the frame.
But if the next Leinster head coach, whomever they may be, guides the province back to the top of European rugby, he would most likely be the favourite to succeed Farrell.
Similar to Michael Cheika and Joe Schmidt, that might be a relatively low-profile assistant coach rather than a high-profile one. There are many moving parts. As with O’Gara at La Rochelle, Lancaster’s contract with Connacht ends next season. No doubt many in Leinster would like to see him return, or Felipe Contepomi after his celebrated time in Leinster as a player and assistant coach before going on to become Argentina head coach. Nor would O’Gara be universally popular in Leinster, given the province’s feisty rivalry with La Rochelle.
We shouldn’t overlook what Mark McCall, a one-time teammate and friend of Humphreys, has achieved at Saracens, nor Jeremy Davidson in French rugby, but few Irish coaches have cut their teeth abroad as impressively as O’Gara.
He coached kicking, skills and defence at Racing and had a diverse role at the Crusaders which revolved primarily around their attack. O’Gara then served as head coach under director of rugby Jono Gibbes at La Rochelle before assuming the main role in 2021 and has guided the club to unprecedent success.
Although the Top 14 is less inward-thinking in its coaching of late, it’s a bloody tough league for non-French coaches, as Cheika and Lancaster can testify. O’Gara would also bring fresh thinking to Leinster.
To a fellow son of Cork and Munster, O’Mahony also admitted that the prospect of O’Gara coaching Leinster would be “a weird one”. You’d imagine that would be putting it mildly for the vast majority of Munster fans.
In many ways, it would be a kick in the teeth for Munster and you’d perhaps prefer to see O’Gara work his magic on his native province, not least as he’s a more natural fit there, and their need is greater.
But O’Mahony understands the game and the dynamics of professional rugby, as do O’Gara and Humphreys.
O’Gara could be the rocket Leinster need. Stranger things have happened.
