James Lowe's future at Leinster remains up in the air, after Leo Cullen chose not to offer an update on his prolonged contract negotiations.
The 34-year-old wing is out of contract at the end of this season, but is yet to come to an agreement with the province.
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has previously expressed his desire for Lowe to remain a part of Irish rugby, at least until the end of this World Cup cycle, but as we head into the final few weeks of the 2025/26 provincial season, uncertainty remains.
Lowe wasn’t selected for last week’s Investec Champions Cup final defeat to Bordeaux-Begles, but he has returned to the starting side for Saturday's BKT URC quarter-final versus the Lions for what will be his 100th appearance for Leinster.
Asked if he was confident that Lowe will still be at Leinster next season, Cullen offered up little certainty.
"These conversations are always ongoing; we're at the time of the year," the head coach said.
"At this end of the season, there will be people that move on, some of that is public knowledge, some is not. And all the people in between, it's their business.
"Things play out behind closed doors because it's people's livelihoods. People make decisions all the time. It's the nature of the business that we're in.
"I know there's great intrigue in some of the individuals within that, which is understandable, of course, because there's fans and people want to know what's happening.
"But, unfortunately, until the individuals decide that certain announcements take place, then it's their business.
"I hope you understand why I'm coming with that angle on this specific case."
Cullen (above) has made eight changes to his side for Saturday’s quarter-final, with several players carrying knocks after the defeat to Bordeaux.
Loosehead prop Paddy McCarthy is finished for the season after having surgery on a foot injury, while Garry Ringrose and Rónan Kelleher are carrying knocks.
Perhaps surprisingly, there is no place for Ciarán Frawley in the matchday squad, despite impressing off the bench in the second half of Saturday's defeat, with Sam Prendergast coming in to start, and Harry Byrne on the bench.
"It's similar to other guys, we're trying to make good choices for the group here," Cullen said, when asked if Frawley was available for selection.
"It's always a balance. And we're lucky with the guys that we have there. And Sam [Prendergast], as you know, he's a super talented young man. And we want to keep giving the guy opportunities.
"Even though he's 23 years of age, he's multiple Irish caps under his belt already.
"So it's not just us as coaches here who think that the guy has unbelievable amount of potential. It's the Irish coaches as well. So, we all want to see him progress.
"So, we need to keep giving him these opportunities."
Saturday’s Champions Cup final defeat has piled the pressure on Cullen and Leinster to finish the season with a URC title, although it’s unlikely that will fully heal the wounds of their latest Champions Cup disappointment.
"He'll have to question and admit that with Frawley, they mismanaged him as a 10..." - @bernardjackman
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) May 27, 2026
Do Leinster only have themselves to blame for Ciarán Frawley's upcoming departure? 🔟
📺🎧 Full pod: https://t.co/sXFSWXUYgh pic.twitter.com/2BYjDJwKMS
And although Cullen admits it has been a difficult week at their UCD base as they look to shake off the 41-19 defeat to Bordeaux, he says they have no option but to get on with the task at hand.
"We're getting through it, yeah, it’s been a challenging few days.
"There's so much work that goes into getting to a final, but it's like this grieving cycle that everyone goes through now.
"People have poured their heart and soul into this, as in the Champions Cup campaign, so to see it sort of come crashing down... But listen, it was a pretty amazing place to be that weekend. It was just a pretty horrific feeling at the end for everyone coming off the back of that.
"So the challenge is now; regardless, win or lose, as we said afterwards at the weekend, was how do you turn your attention into a totally new challenge? So it is positive that we have a new challenge to move on to.
"And the group need to show real character in their performance this week. If we don't get a performance this week, we know the Lions have a huge amount of threats, and then we have another disappointing day.
"So it's a balance, isn't it? You know, at some point in time, we need to be able to turn our attention to the next thing. But unfortunately, it's the magnitude of last week's game is always going to be there.
"As I said, we need to have the right characteristics this week in terms of how we approach the week. You know, leaders need to step up and lead. And it's really important that we get back to winning ways. And that's how we go about preparing for the Lions," he added.
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