Shane Byrne believes Leinster have picked the perfect man to lead the province forward. Leo Cullen is the man tasked with bringing success back to the three time European champions next season.
He's signed a two year deal to become their next head coach having fulfilled the role on an interim basis following the axing of Matt O’Connor.
Cullen will be assisted by defence coach Kurt McQuilkin, who returns to a role he previously held with the province under Michael Cheika. John Fogarty will serve as scrum coach.
Girvan Dempsey will take temporary responsibility for backs coaching until the autumn, when Richie Murphy will rejoin the province as skills and kicking coach after Ireland's involvement in the World Cup.
Byrne gave his reaction to news of the appointment to 98FM sport on Wednesday afternoon, he believes Leinster have made the right call: “We always seem to forget that at this stage, in the players eyes he’s probably seen as an old bloke He’s been around for so long.”
“His spirit, his passion, his knowledge of the Leinster set up there’s no settling in time now it’s just continuing as was”.
Shane Byrne believes Leo Cullen was always the standout candidate, and he enjoyed the support from many former players for the top job in the province.
“When the O’Connor incident happened and he was let go, there was a huge groundswell of support for Leo and Girvan Dempsey and a lot of the people I’d be talking to, they wouldn’t have any agendas. They just thought, this would work fantastically well. ”
Shane Byrne joined 98FM's Derek Ryan live in studio on Wednesday to speak about Leo Cullen's appointment, the scale of the task facing him, and how the move to place faith in a young Irish will ultimately benefit Irish rugby.
