Club legend emerges as favourite to replace Leo Cullen at Leinster

Felipe Contepomi has emerged as the favourite to make a romantic return to Leinster to replace Leo Cullen when he stands down at the end of the season.

Argentina’s all-time leading points scorer, Contepomi, 49, is regarded as one of Leinster’s club legends after spending six years at the RDS as a player and a further four on the coaching staff before leaving in 2023 to return to Argentina.

He first served as an assistant to Michael Cheika at the 2023 World Cup, then took over the top job, and now Leinster, who have drawn up a shortlist he heads, will have to try to tempt him away.

Leinster chief executive Shane Nolan admitted last week that they were in no rush to replace Cullen, who has been in charge since 2015, and that they could even wait until after the 2027 World Cup to get the right person in place.

“So, the key part of the process, and the most critical part, is defining the criteria we want for the new head coach in terms of what are the skills, what are the expertise, what are the experience, what are the attributes we want,” he said.

“And once we’ve aligned with that, then it’s a case of starting to consider candidates, etc. But the criteria piece has been the single most important part of that,” Nolan is quoted as saying in the Irish Independent.

Nolan, who heads the recruitment team, is being assisted by COO Guy Easterby, head of the Professional Games Board Frank Doherty and IRU Performance Director, David Humphreys in deciding Cullen’s successor.

According to reports in Ireland, other potential targets are reported to be All Blacks assistants Tamati Ellison (skills) and Jason Ryan (forwards).

But Contepomi is seen as the red-hot favourite with Ronan O’Gara, who has also been linked to the role, set to stay in La Rochelle.

Contempomi has had mixed success in his time in charge of the Pumas, overseeing historic wins over the All Blacks, Springboks and the British and Irish Lions.

Overall, he has only won 13 of his 29 Tests to date (44.8%), and the Pumas are currently languishing in eighth place in the world rankings going into Saturday’s rematch with Australia in Mendoza.