 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | Leo Francis Matthew Cullen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 9 January 1978 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Wicklow, Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 110 kg (17 st 5 lb; 243 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Blackrock College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | University College Dublin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leo Francis Matthew Cullen (born 9 January 1978) is an Irish rugby coach and former professional rugby union player. He played at lock for Leinster Rugby and Ireland. He was appointed coach of Leinster rugby on 19 August 2015. [1]
Cullen was educated firstly at Willow Park which is the junior school to Blackrock College where he attended secondary school. He then studied Agricultural Science at University College Dublin. [2] He graduated in 1999 with a BA in Economics.
Cullen won a Leinster Schools Senior Cup medal in 1995 as well as 1996, when Blackrock beat a Newbridge College team which included Geordan Murphy. [3]
Cullen began his career with Leinster by representing them at schoolboy level in 1995 before moving on to their U20 team where he won seven caps. He also made five appearances on the 'A' team and finally debuted during the interprovincial and Heineken Cup matches of the 1998/99 season. [4]
Cullen moved to Leicester Tigers in 2005 where he made 56 appearances, 15 as captain. He was a part of the squad that won the EDF Energy Cup and Guinness Premiership in 2007. [5] He was also on the losing side in the 2007 Heineken Cup final, when London Wasps defeated Leicester at Twickenham Stadium. [4]
Cullen re-joined Leinster in 2007 and was part of the squad that won the 2007/2008 Celtic League. On 26 August 2008, he was named as Leinster captain following Brian O'Driscoll stepping down from the role meaning he has captained most of the teams he has played on. [6] He led Leinster to success in their first ever Heineken Cup in 2009, beating Leicester in the final. He also captained Leinster in 2011 to another Heineken Cup victory, and in 2012 became the first person to captain a team to three Heineken Cup victories. [4] He retired in May 2014 after winning the 2014 Pro12 Grand Final. [4]
Cullen has represented his country at all levels, 7 caps at schools level, then captaining the U19 team 3 times in 4 caps. He went on to captain the U21s 14 times in 16 appearances. He also appeared for the U25 team and was capped 16 times at 'A' level Irish Wolfhounds where he captained the team against England.
Cullen made his senior debut against the All Blacks in Auckland in 2002. [7] He became the 100th man to captain Ireland, against Scotland on 6 August 2011. [8]
| Opposition | Played | Win | Loss | Draw | Tries | Points | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Argentina | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50 |
 Australia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
 England | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
 Fiji | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
 France | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 |
 Georgia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
 Italy | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
 Japan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
 New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Romania | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
 Russia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
 Samoa | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
 Scotland | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
 Tonga | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
 United States | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
 Wales | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Career | 32 | 25 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 78.13% |
After retiring from playing in 2014, Cullen remained at Leinster as a forwards coach. [10] He then became head coach in 2015.
His coaching colleague, Stuart Lancaster, has described Cullen's strengths as "very high integrity... very good leadership qualities... unbelievable work ethic... very good on the managerial side of things." [11] He is also regarded as effective in bringing out the strengths of coaching colleagues. [12]
Cullen became the first person to win the top European Rugby trophy as a player and a coach, when his Leinster side defeating Racing 92 in the Champions Cup final in May 2018, having already won it three times as a player. [13]
| Club | Season(s) | GP | W | D | L | Win % | Loss % | Championships / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leinster | 2015/16 – Present | 250 | 196 | 4 | 50 | 78.4% | 20% | European Cup (2018) United Rugby Championship (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) United Rugby Championship Coach of the year (2018, 2022) Irish Shield (2022, 2023) |
Leicester Tigers are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
Martin Osborne Johnson CBE is an English retired rugby union player who represented and captained England and Leicester in a career spanning 16 seasons. He captained England to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and is regarded as one of the greatest locks ever to have played, and one of England's greatest ever players.
Brian Gerard O'Driscoll is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at outside centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster and for Ireland. He captained Ireland from 2003 until 2012, and captained the British & Irish Lions for their 2005 tour of New Zealand. He is regarded by critics as one of the greatest rugby players of all time.
Geordan Edward Andrew Murphy is an Irish rugby union rugby coach and player who retired from the professional game as the most-decorated man in Premiership Rugby history. He played as fullback or wing for the Irish international team and the English club Leicester Tigers as well as for the British & Irish Lions.
Martin Edward Corry MBE is a retired English rugby union player who represented and captained England and Leicester Tigers in a career spanning 14 seasons. Corry played 64 times for England between 1997 and 2007, played 7 tests for the British & Irish Lions on tours in 2001 & 2005, and played 290 times for Leicester between 1997 and 2009. Earlier in his career he played top division rugby for Newcastle Gosforth and Bristol. A versatile player his principal positions were number eight and blindside flanker, he also played lock more as his career progressed.
Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won once. Ulster were the first Irish team and the first team outside England and France to win the European Cup in 1999.
Leinster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial club rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup.
Ronan John Ross O'Gara is an Irish former rugby union player and current coach. O'Gara played as a fly-half and is Ireland's second most-capped player and second highest points scorer. He is currently head coach of La Rochelle in the French Top 14.
Shane Jennings is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at openside flanker for Leinster Rugby and Ireland. He was also registered to St Mary's College.
Dylan Hartley is a former England Rugby union captain who represented England and Northampton Saints.
Paul Gustard is a former rugby union footballer who played for Leicester Tigers, London Irish and Saracens at flanker. He was captain of rugby and educated at the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle and is the son of former Gosforth favourite Steve Gustard, who was the club's leading try scorer for several seasons in the late 1970s. He gained Full County Cap honours with Durham County and was selected to captain the England U21 tour to Australia under manager Jeff Probyn. He was the only player not to be attached to a Premiership Rugby Squad.
Frank Murphy is a former professional rugby union player from Ireland who works as a referee for the Irish Rugby Football Union. He primarily played as a scrum-half. Originally from Cork, Murphy played for his native province of Munster before moving to the English side Leicester Tigers.
Cian Eoin James Healy is an Irish professional rugby union player who plays as a prop for United Rugby Championship club Leinster and the Ireland national team.
Jonathan Jeremiah Sexton is an Irish former professional rugby union player who played as a fly-half and captained the Ireland national team from 2019 until 2023. He also played club rugby for Leinster and Racing 92.
Seán Kevin O'Brien is an Irish retired professional rugby union player. He previously represented home province Leinster for eleven seasons. At Leinster, he helped the team win four European titles, and was named ERC European Player of the Year for the 2010–11 season, he then played three season's for English Premiership Rugby side London Irish.
Niall Henry Brophy was an Irish rugby union player. He represented University College Dublin R.F.C., Blackrock College R.F.C., London Irish R.F.C., Barbarian F.C., Leinster, Ireland and the British and Irish Lions. He played as a Winger. He also represented UCD and IUAA in athletics.
The European Rugby Champions Cup is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a predominantly European league. Clubs qualify for the Champions Cup via their final positions in their respective national/regional leagues or via winning the second-tier Challenge Cup; those that do not qualify are instead eligible to compete in the second-tier Challenge Cup.
History of Leicester Tigers details the history of the rugby union club based in Leicester, England. Nicknamed the Tigers from 1885, Leicester have been a prominent club from the earliest days of organised English rugby dominating midlands rugby before the First World War; providing British Lions captains in 1930, 1936, 1997 and 2001; and winning 21 major titles since 1979 including a record 11 Premiership Rugby titles.
The 2022–23 European Rugby Champions Cup was the ninth season of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the annual club rugby union competition run by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) for teams from the top five nations in European rugby and South Africa. It was the 28th season of pan-European professional club rugby competition.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)