Leinster's Robyn McBryde says the province are in "constant contact" with their incoming senior coach Jacques Nienaber during the Rugby World Cup in France.
South Africa head coach Nienaber is due to link up with the province following the World Cup, filling the role left vacant by Stuart Lancaster in the summer.
And while forwards coach McBryde says he's only had a small amount of contact with his future colleague, the Welshman says head coach Leo Cullen's been in touch with the Springbok boss regularly.
"There was an initial good luck message at the start. I think Leo's been in constant contact with him during the campaign, it was a close game again at the weekend again, so we'll see how they go," McBryde said.
And despite Ireland's World Cup disappointment coming off the back of Leinster's Champions Cup final defeat in the summer, McBryde is confident that Nienaber's arrival will guard against any post-World Cup hangover.
"I'm sure once the dust has settled from the Word Cup and everyone is back here, we've already spoken about how we're going to reintegrate everyone back to get everyone on the same page as quick as possible.
"Who knows, maybe we'll have a World Cup winning coach joining us as well, who may want to share a few secrets with us?" he added.
Leinster get their BKT United Rugby Championship campaign under way this weekend, when they take on Glasgow Warriors on Sunday (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).
Ed Byrne, Alex Soroka, Michael Milne and Martin Moloney will all miss out due to injury, while Cian Healy could be in contention to feature as he steps up the recovery from the ankle injury which saw him miss the World Cup.
McBryde (above) confirmed that their Irish squad members will be available in between three and five weeks, on a case by case basis depending on their workload in the tournament.
Michael Ala'alatoa returned to training this week after his World Cup campaign with Samoa, although it appears unlikely he'll be put straight back into action against Glasgow in the URC opener on Sunday, with McBryde saying they will give him time to "get his feet back under the table".
It's been an unusual pre-season for Leinster. As well as having 20 players away on World Cup duty they have also been short on staff with Nienaber yet to link up with the squad, while attack coach Andrew Goodman and analyst Brian Coakley were also working with Samoa at the World Cup.
"It's been different," McBryde added.
"It's been good in many ways because you're able to double down on the individuals we've had, take them back to basics. It's been good in that regard and it's given a little bit of growth for some of the members of staff back here as well; Juliette Fortune has stepped up with regards to her analysis work, Emmett Farrell has done a little bit kore hands-on coaching than he would have normally.
"Everybody has sort of stood dup and mucked together. It's been really good, really positive from staff and players.
"Working with the youngsters, they bring a different type of energy, they're all very keen to get involved, and it was good to have those three pre-season matches we had, to get a better sense of where they're at and where we're at as well."
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