Former Leinster boss Matt O’Connor has spoken about the disappointing season that led to his departure, and backed Leo Cullen to succeed him as head coach.
O’Connor’s contract with Leinster was ended a year early last month, with Cullen taking over on an interim basis, following a year in which Leinster got to the semi-final of the Champions Cup, only to be beaten by eventual winners Toulon in extra-time, but failed to qualify for the knock-out stages of the Guinness Pro12.
A combination of injuries to key players, and the loss of a large number of front-liners to international duty, frustrated Leinster’s efforts, particularly in the Pro12, and stymied their attempts to build momentum.
Speaking exclusively to RTÉ Sport, O’Connor was gracious and dignified about the province, saying he had had “a fantastic two years” with Leinster, but admitted last season had been a disappointment.
“We had a pretty disruptive campaign across the whole league,” O’Connor said. “We had injuries at the start of the season, and then it gets broken up with the international schedule. And then we were trying to fight on two fronts at the back end.
“So from that perspective it was a very, very frustrating and disjointed campaign for us. To come fifth is no disgrace, but the expectation is higher than that.”
O’Connor agreed there was a bit of a Mexican stand-off between Leinster and the IRFU over the availability of players, and how long players were allowed to play for the province, but he suggested this was inevitable given players’ playing time was limited.
"You can’t win every year, that’s the reality of it. Nobody wins every year" - Matt O'Connor
“It created a little bit of a lack of continuity for us, and at stages, we were a little bit disjointed. But at the same time, you want guys to be involved internationally.”
Asked if he could see Cullen developing into a Leinster head coach on a permanent basis, possibly in the very near future, O’Connor said: “Yeah, definitely. There’s nobody that knows more about Leinster rugby than Leo Cullen.
“From my perspective, I certainly wish him all the best. Does he want it? Is it perfect timing? No it’s not, but I think, certainly if you weighed up all the pros and cons, there wouldn’t be too many blokes better to do the job.”
O’Connor was upbeat about Leinster’s future and the younger players coming through, saying there were a “lot of good kids” who were excellent “attitudinally”.
He said there were huge opportunities for Leinster, but that competition in the Pro12 and the Champions had become tougher than ever.
“The margins are smaller. Europe is tougher. You’ve got to make sure that you’ve got your best blokes available as often as you can, and if you can do that, well then I think Leinster will be competitive for years to come.”
However, he sounded a cautious note when asked what his advice would be for his successor: “manage the expectation,” was O’Connor’s response.
“I probably didn’t do as good a job at that as I should have. You can’t win every year, that’s the reality of it. Nobody wins every year.
“I think the Leinster fans, as fantastic as they’ve been, need to have a little more clarity in relation to what’s acceptable and what’s realistic.”
He thought some of the personal criticism he received was unmerited, but that it was part of having a public role, and that the focus within Leinster had been on blocking out the external noise.
“We spoke a lot about trying to ignore the distractions and the noise from outside, and focus on the positives inside, and we managed that. Maybe the noise got a little bit too loud towards the end.”
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