Ireland is not something that’s on my radar, insists Cullen

By Ciarán Ó Raghallaigh

Leo Cullen says coaching Ireland is not on his radar and he insists he wants to keep Stuart Lancaster at Leinster for as long as possible.

The pair would be in the mix should Joe Schmidt decide not to stay on as Ireland coach when his contract expires next November after the World Cup in Japan.

Schmidt is set to announce his decision later this month and, if the Kiwi decides to leave, the coaches in charge of the current European Champions could be targets for the IRFU.

“I’m very young in my coaching development, I have a lot to learn,” said Cullen when asked if he would be interested in the Ireland hot seat.

Ireland is not really something that’s on my radar, particularly, we’re very engrossed on what we’re doing, and there’s a very good chance that the coaching ticket with Ireland may stay exactly the same, so we’ll wait and see.

Lancaster has been tipped by many to reunite with Andy Farrell, his former England assistant, should Schmidt decide that six years is long enough in the one job. The former England head coach is now the senior coach with the European champions and has been linked with a host of roles since his surprise arrival in Dublin two years ago.

Leinster made it to the European semi-finals in his first season and went all the way in the second, before adding a Guinness PRO14 title weeks later last May.

“Yeah, definitely [we want to keep him]. Stuart’s had an unbelievable impact,” said Cullen. “[Take] some of the players who played at the weekend: You see the impact he’s had with Josh van der Flier, James Ryan, Garry Ringrose, Johnny Sexton. There’s so many players he’s had a positive influence on.

Stuart has an impact certainly on the way we train, the physical condition of all the players, but it’s one of those ones, you don’t know the answer yet, so what’s going to happen if Joe stays on? We’ll wait and see, and how that all filters out, but that’s a decision for another day.

“We’re always making sure the organisation is not relying on any one person, because that’s not the way any organisation should be set up, because they’re always going to be vulnerable, so for us, we’re investing in all the coaches, the players, young players.”