ON THIS WEEK’S COLUMN…

• WRAP OF A WRAP
• SUCCEEDING LEO
• GORDON BLUES
• RAGING BULLS
• PARSONS PROJECT
• EQUAL RANKS
• THE LONG LIST OF LEGENDS LEAVING LEINSTER
• IRELAND SQUAD UPDATE
• TROLL PATROL
• COMPETITION UPDATES
• SUPERBRU DRAMA
• NEXT HARPIN’

WRAP OF A WRAP

Needless to say I was gutted when I realised that I wouldn’t mke it from work to Croke Park in time for kickoff on Friday, but it’s also needless to say watching such a comprehensive victorious display from the boys in blue did much to make me feel better!

And when it came to the wrap pod recording, although we normally aim to be finished by 9pm, myself and Conor had no qualms with going over until about quarter past as he did an excellent job not only harping on the final itself, but also paying tribute to all the lads leaving the province for the bonus chat.

If you missed the pod recording be sure to check it out you’ll find it here.

While it was of course a very satisfying weekend for Leinster fans, spare a thought for the legions of rugby followers for whom the success was literally the last thing they wanted to see. No doubt the news bothered them so much that they would follow anything else in the news cycle, possibly even including the round ball World Cup.

Given how the week following defeats in finals are always followed by days of articles telling us all “what’s wrong with Leinster” (see flow chart below), it’s only natural to assume that after a victory the focus might change to eyeing the province through a more positive lens (cue JK Simmons GIF) but I guess we’ll never know since on Monday the news of Leo Cullen’s impending departure dropped, also offering a perfect distraction for the vast “ABL” community.

Well, I say impending…it is to be a long goodbye of an entire rugby season but that certainly won’t stop us all speculating over who will eventually replace him.

I suppose the first question has to be this – will they necessarily appoint a direct replacement or his position? It always has been something of a unique role. He had only been coaching a year when he assumed it and the remit was slightly different to that we know for a “head coach”, while the buck did stop with him he was also of a public face of a coaching ticket where the unit coaches appeared to have more responsibility, as demonstrated by the appointment first of Stu Lancaster and then Jacques Nienaber as “Senior Coach”.

Eventually I will wade into the debate over who is to fill his shoes, or indeed over what he himself is to do next, but to be honest with him to be there for another full season I just don’t see the point in doing so right now. All the proposed candidates seem fine, yes, even ROG. I know a lot of people assume Leinster fans would pull their hair out at the thought of him taking the reins, but my own reservations would be less about what province he played for in the past and more about how he continuously got into trouble with the 🔝🐱🐴 for bad mouthing the officials.

Anyway, this article is one of several looking at the various possible candidates, all a decent read, but personally I’d rather bask in Leo and Leinster’s back-to-back title glory for a little longer.

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