Former Tigers duo give boss thumbs up

Matt O’Connor will join Leinster this summer as Joe Schmidt’s successor having received the seal of approval from the province’s former Leicester Tigers Shane Jennings and Leo Cullen, team manager Guy Easterby has revealed.

Australian O’Connor will leave Welford Road, where he has coached since 2008, having not just impressed Leinster’s interview panel but also the European champions’ senior players, including Cullen and Jennings. They had used their contacts in Leicester, including fellow Irishman Geordan Murphy to corroborate the good vibes O’Connor had given during his interview and a visit to Leinster’s UCD training base last week. “They’re good insiders for us and I think we would have been crazy not to use some of their contacts in Leicester,” Easterby said yesterday, “but again I think a lot of it was done.

“We met with Matt and we were happy with what we saw and then those sort of phone calls could be made just for that last half to make sure that what you’re hearing is across the board and they obviously got some great feedback for us. The players just had a sit-down with Matt and a chat. Because they want the place to continue moving forward as does Matt. It was a two-way conversation about how that was going to continue and they both came out of those conversations in a positive frame of mind.”

Easterby suggested that O’Connor would be a kind of Joe Schmidt with a twist, as well as someone with a vision to take Leinster onto the next stage with the outgoing coach having achieved back-to-back Heineken Cup victories and standing poised to bow out with a potential Amlin Challenge Cup-RaboDirect Pro12 double.

“Yeah, I’ve had a few chats with him and we’re probably looking for a very similar coach to Joe in terms of his skill-set and we feel that we’ve got that. He’s obviously going to be a different type of character, I think an Aussie compared to a New Zealander will have immediate differences. But I think it will certainly freshen things up.

“We have to keep moving forward. Otherwise we’ll get caught behind. And I think he sold his ideas really well. I guess he interviewed, if that’s the word you want to use, really well when he was over here.”

Easterby also backed O’Connor’s playing experience, he was a one-cap Wallaby, against Ireland in 1994 and had stints with the Brumbies and in rugby league.

“I think he’s been at a couple of big places. You don’t survive in the Brumbies or Leicester without being good at your job, because they’re the type of environments that they are. So to have four and five years in those environments is a great credit to him.” While Leicester still chase English Premiership glory and have a home play-off semi-final against Harlequins this weekend, Easterby said O’Connor would pay another visit to Leinster before taking over from Schmidt on July 1.