Future unclear for two Irish veterans at Leinster, admits Cullen

Head coach Leo Cullen admits that the future of two Irish big hitters at Leinster remains unclear as their contracts come to an end at the province. Rob Kearney and Devin Toner, as well as Wallaby Joe Tomane, all have contracts coming to an end at the end of the current PRO14 season, and Cullen confirmed that nothing has yet been decided.

Leinster players have already taken a 25 per cent pay cut, and the province will be eager to minimise costs going into what is an uncertain future for the professional game.

“There’s going to be a good chunk of players that still haven’t got themselves sorted with contracts for next season so to speak and we’ll just have to wait and see what that looks like,” Cullen told the Irish Daily Mirror.

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“Are they going to join another club? Are they going to retire completely? What’s the financial situation etc, etc?

“There’s a huge amount of factors that we don’t know yet.”

The pair have an impressive 165 Ireland caps between them, but Kearney (34) and Toner (33) are both entering the twilight of their professional rugby careers.

Last year Kearney had significant difficulty nailing down a contract with Leinster, and only managed a one year contract on a significantly reduced salary.

Toner, who was left out of Joe Schmidt’s initial Rugby World Cup squad in 2019, faces stiff competition from his fellow second rows at Leinster. James Ryan, Scott Fardy, Ross Moloney and the emergence of Ryan Baird, suggest the province is well served in the engine room.

Meanwhile Wallaby centre cun wing Joe Tomane’s two year contract at Leinster looks like it too could be coming to an end. Tomane, who signed for Leinster in 2018, played 68 times for the Brumbies in Super Rugby scoring 25 tries and was capped 17 times by Australia, making his debut in 2012 against Scotland, before joining Montpellier in the TOP14 in 2016. Tomane played 44 times for Montpellier scoring 16 tries.