Jacques Nienaber will be given all the time he needs to celebrate South Africa's monumental achievement before he takes up duties at Leinster, says Leo Cullen.
Incoming senior coach Nienaber has just led the Springboks to back-to-back World Cups and Cullen, whose side got their first win of the season on Saturday against the Sharks, says it's important that the former Munster assistant has the freedom to enjoy the spoils of victory.
South Africa beat New Zealand 12-11 in Saturday's finale, having beaten England and France in the knock-out stages, winning both matches by a point. Andy Farrell's Ireland beat the Springboks 13-8 in the pool stages.
"We're back and forth most weeks. Firstly, it's amazing what they've achieved, back-to-back World Cups, you can see how tight those games are and making sure you get everything right on the day [is incredible]," Cullen told RTÉ Sport.
"It comes down to a lot on the day because they are really good teams going at it. They've just managed to find a way somehow in every game, every knock-out game that is, Ireland being the only team that beat them during the World Cup. It just shows how close Ireland are to that level when you think about it.
"The big thing for Jacques now is that it's a special time.
"You don't want to look back on this period with any regrets, just savour the moment and enjoy the celebrations. Everyone has an appreciation of what the mood in South Africa is like off the back of winning and how it unites that country.
"Because it's a very unusual place, South Africa, from what we are traditionally used to.
"The effect of the success of the rugby team has, and for lots of us.
"You talk about the professional game that we are in now, obviously when the game goes professional just after the 1995 World Cup in South Africa, it's that Invictus movie and it's a proper Hollywood story and where the game is now 20 years later. It's incredible when you think about it."
The squad and coaching team are set to embark on a 'Trophy Tour' where they will show off the Webb Ellis Cup to supporters in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Soweto and Pretoria.
Cullen continued: "There's a much wider story going on there and the big thing for Jacques is just to enjoy the moment, however long that's going to be and we'll get him up and running in here after that.
"The [Leinster] lads are all excited to get him out there on the field doing what he loves doing and that's the big thing you've heard from the South Africa players: what does he love doing? He loves coaching so we'll get him set up and out there doing what he enjoys doing."
Meanwhile, Jack Conan (above), Ryan Baird and Joe McCarthy were among the Ireland contingent pictured at Leinster training on Monday.
Ireland were knocked out by the All Blacks in the quarter-finals 16 days ago.
"The guys we had away, they are all seeing it from a slightly different lens," said Cullen, who Leinster player made up 18 of the Irish squad and whose team face Edinburgh in the BKT URC at the RDS on Saturday.
"Some guys were in the thick of it, played a decent amount of minutes, other guys less so and then everything in between.
"I've just left them all with a bit of space really. A couple of the guys trained today and we'll sort of nurse them back into it and back on on the horse and doing what they love.
"Going back to that Energia [event], and our culture captain, it's just getting back doing what they do and enjoy it for what it is, a game of rugby, at the end of the day.
"It's trying to get over that disappointment that they've all gone through, which is hard, you can drag it around for a while but you've got to get back on the horse, so to speak, and get moving again."
Watch Leinster v Edinburgh (Saturday 3.05pm) and Munster v Dragons (Saturday 5.15pm) in the URC on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
