Leo Francis Matthew Cullen (born 9 January 1978) is an Irish rugby coach and former professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player. He played at

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

for Leinster Rugby and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He was appointed coach of Leinster rugby on 19 August 2015.

Early life and education

Cullen was educated firstly at Willow Park which is the junior school to

Blackrock College Blackrock College ( ga, Coláiste na Carraige Duibhe) is a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by French missionary Jules Leman in 186 ...

where he attended secondary school. He then studied Agricultural Science at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

. He graduated in 1999 with a BA in Economics. Cullen won a

Leinster Schools Senior Cup The Leinster Schools Senior Challenge Cup is the premier rugby union competition for secondary schools affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the IRFU. First held in 1887, the competition celebrated its 120th anniversary in 2007. Attendances are h ...

medal in 1995 as well as 1996, when Blackrock beat a

Newbridge College , latin_name = , logo = Newbridge College crest.gif , logo_size = 140px , seal_image = , image = Newbridge College.jpg , image_size = 270px , alt = Newbridge College and the R ...

team which included

Geordan Murphy Geordan Edward Andrew Murphy (born 19 April 1978) is an Irish rugby union coach and former player. He played as fullback or wing both for the Irish international team and the English club Leicester Tigers. Youth Murphy was born in Dublin, Ire ...

Playing career

Club playing career

Cullen began his career with Leinster by representing them at schoolboy level in 1995 before moving on to their U20 team where he won seven caps. He also made five appearances on the 'A' team and finally debuted during the interprovincial and Heineken Cup matches of the 1998/99 season. Cullen moved to Leicester Tigers in 2005 where he made 56 appearances, 15 as captain. He was a part of the squad that won the

EDF Energy Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

and Guinness Premiership in 2007. He was also on the losing side in the

2007 Heineken Cup Final The 2007 Heineken Cup Final was a rugby union match played at Twickenham Stadium in London, England, on 20 May 2007 to determine the winners of the 2006–07 Heineken Cup, European rugby's premier club competition. It was contested by English c ...

, when

London Wasps Wasps Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union team. They last played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby until being suspended on 12 October 2022. On 17 October 2022 the club entered administration, resulting in r ...

defeated Leicester at

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team plays ...

. Cullen re-joined Leinster in 2007 and was part of the squad that won the 2007/2008

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

. On 26 August 2008, he was named as Leinster captain following

Brian O'Driscoll Brian Gerard O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at outside centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster and for Ireland. He captained Ireland from 2003 until 2012, and captained the ...

stepping down from the role meaning he has captained most of the teams he has played on. He led Leinster to success in their first ever Heineken Cup in 2009, beating Leicester in the final. He also captained Leinster in 2011 to another Heineken Cup victory, and in 2012 became the first person to captain a team to three Heineken Cup victories. He retired in May 2014 after winning the 2014 Pro12 Grand Final.

International playing career

Cullen has represented his country at all levels, 7 caps at schools level, then captaining the U19 team 3 times in 4 caps. He went on to captain the U21s 14 times in 16 appearances. He also appeared for the U25 team and was capped 16 times at 'A' level Irish Wolfhounds where he captained the team against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Cullen made his senior debut against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

in Auckland in 2002. He became the 100th man to captain Ireland, against Scotland on 6 August 2011.

Coaching career

After retiring from playing in 2014, Cullen remained at Leinster as a forwards coach. He became head coach in 2015. His coaching colleague, Stuart Lancaster, has described Cullen's strengths as "very high integrity... very good leadership qualities... unbelievable work ethic... very good on the managerial side of things." He is also regarded as effective in bringing out the strengths of coaching colleagues. Cullen became the first person to win the top European Rugby trophy as a player and a coach, when his Leinster side defeating Racing 92 in the Champions Cup final in May 2018, having already won it three times as a player. :'

Honours

;Leinster * European Rugby Champions Cup: 3 ( 2009, 2011,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

) *

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...

: 1 (

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

) *

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

: 4 ( 2002,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

) ;Leicester *

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

: 1 ( 2007) *

Anglo-Welsh Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

: 1 ( 2007) ;Leinster (as coach) * European Rugby Champions Cup: 1 (

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

) *

: 4 (

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

) * Irish Shield 1 (

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

) ;Individual *URC Coach of the Year: 2 (

) *URC Chairman's Award: 1 (

) *URC Team of the Year: 2 (

, 2010)

UCD

* UCD Alumni Award in Sport 2021

References

External links

Leinster profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cullen, Leo 1978 births Living people Irish rugby union coaches Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Leinster Rugby players Leinster Rugby non-playing staff Alumni of University College Dublin University College Dublin R.F.C. players Blackrock College RFC players Leicester Tigers players People educated at Blackrock College Ireland Wolfhounds international rugby union players Rugby union locks Rugby union players from County Wicklow