Leinster's new head coach Leo Cullen is aware of the challenges facing him as he takes up the role but is confident that he can be equal to the task.
The 37-year-old was somewhat of a left-field choice to replace Matt O'Connor, with whom he had worked as a forwards coach last season, but the former Leinster player has signed a two-year deal to take charge of the province.
Cullen had been working in the role of interim coach since the departure of O'Connor at the tail end of last season and believes he can have a positive impact as head coach.
"Leinster as a club is very, very ambitious and there's a big responsibility that goes with the job that I'm going to take take on. I'm excited about the challenge, it's a place I've been very passionate about and I'm just looking forward to getting going," he said.
"There’s a huge challenge here. I’m under no illusions. I’m very fortunate we’ve got a lot of good people working here and I’m going to lean on a lot of those people."
It's just over 15 months since Cullen hung up his boots as a player and while the opportunity to take charge of Leinster has come earlier than many expected, the former lock said it was a chance he couldn't reject.
"I wasn’t sure what I’d do, I thought I might play like Brad Thorn in my early 40s but I had that opportunity to learn a lot in my coaching year. But, listen, it is soon in my coaching career but it was too good an opportunity to turn down."
Cullen believes that the knowledge he has picked up from the likes of O’Connor, Joe Schmidt and Michael Cheika will stand him in good stead.
"I’m always looking at ideas from elsewhere. Steal is another word. I watch games every weekend and you’re always trying to pick the best bits out that fit in to what I would see as my philosophy. All the while you’re trying to develop," he said.
"As a player over a long period of time I have always looked at head coaches. How they run their organisation, how they run the week, how they interact with players, it’s been an ongoing education through the course of my career.
"I have often thought about it in great depth. Even when I was playing I spent a bit of time and went to look at different environments in the southern hemisphere, with a view to go in to coach.
"I think it’s important that you’re learning from different places, from different things. Not just in rugby, but I spent some time with rugby league teams too."
