Leinster’s leftfield head coach choice lacks stardust but makes sense

The choice of Noel McNamara to succeed Leo Cullen at Leinster may lack a bit of the stardust and experience possessed by other notional candidates. However, it is in keeping with Leinster’s tendency to go with slightly leftfield picks when appointing new head coaches, while it also links in with the needs of Irish rugby. With that in mind, it makes sense.

Former outhalf turned Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi – who rivals Isa Nacewa as the province’s best overseas signing – would undoubtedly have generated plenty of enthusiasm among the Leinster fanbase.

Ronan O’Gara would assuredly have provoked both more debate and global headlines, as would either of the New Zealand duo of Scott Robertson and Jamie Joseph. But none of those three have any experience of working in the Leinster setup. This factor clearly counted significantly in McNamara’s favour, having coached the province’s under-18 and under-19 sides as well as being manager of their academy.

“A lot of coaching is about timing,” McNamara once told The Irish Times, and his apparent anointment as head coach at Leinster is further proof of that.

For Contepomi, the timing was slightly out. As head coach of Argentina, he could not have succeeded Cullen until after next year’s World Cup, sometime in November 2027.

The structure for next season, and specifically the URC fixtures, has not been decided upon, but the likelihood is that some rounds will take place before the World Cup and perhaps even during it. Hence Contepomi, along with any coaches involved in the World Cup, would have missed those rounds.

Leinster CEO Shane Nolan, head of rugby operations Guy Easterby and Frank Doherty, chairman of the Professional Game Board, have driven the recruitment, with input and approval from David Humphreys. One contingency plan was asking Cullen to remain on until the completion of the World Cup, but choosing McNamara removes this need and makes for a smoother transition.

McNamara also has the kind of age profile, energy and enthusiasm that Leinster have looked for in three of their last four head coaches, none of whom had experience of being head coach of a professional side. Leinster is a big, demanding job with an expectant fan base and employers.

Firstly, they are expected to be bulk suppliers to the Irish team (to which can be added the Lions, while also feeding into the other three provinces) and the head coach must abide by the decisions and unwritten rules of Andy Farrell and the IRFU. He also has to keep abreast of the Leinster A side and underage teams, as well as the academy, the clubs and the schools.

He must also juggle a squad of 45 players, often using 50-plus in a season, and deliver home knockout ties in both the Champions Cup and the URC while ideally reaching finals and winning silverware. To that end, Leinster played 29 competitive matches last season.

Michael Cheika was 38 and largely unknown, having only coached in Padova and Randwick, when he and David Knox pitched up in Dublin in 2005. Joe Schmidt was 44 and had only been an assistant to Vern Cotter at Bay of Plenty, the Blues and Clermont. Leo Cullen had done just one season as Leinster forwards coach when he was handed the reins in 2015 at the age of 36. Of the three, he had by far the most successful playing career.

McNamara is 43 and has taken a more circuitous route from O’Callaghan’s Mills in East Clare, where he was reared on a small farm and where he played pretty much every sport bar rugby.

It was while studying PE in the University of Limerick that McNamara came across PJ Smith, who was his supervisor when doing his thesis on the penalty kick in football and thereafter something of a mentor.

Smith recommended McNamara first to Glenstal Abbey and then Clongowes Wood College. McNamara was unsure, but Smith insisted: “You are going to be a coach.”

McNamara coached the Clongowes Under-13s for two seasons and the Senior Cup team for eight seasons, with Tadhg Beirne captaining the school to the Leinster Schools Senior Cup in 2011. He also coached the Irish schools and UCD in the AIL as a precursor to coaching the Ireland under-20s in 2017-18, which incorporated a stint as defence coach at North Harbour at the instigation of David Nucifora, who has also been an influential figure.

McNamara guided Ireland to an Under-20 Grand Slam in 2019 and was set to repeat the feat after retaining the Triple Crown with a stunning 39-21 win over England in Franklin’s Gardens when the pandemic hit. This also meant no World Cup.

An intelligent, articulate and engaging person, McNamara returned to the Leinster academy as its manager for two seasons but he missed coaching and Nucifora set up an opportunity with the Sharks in Durban. In his second season there, Yannick Bru took a sabbatical from head coaching in the Top 14, working as a contact coach and only attending home games.

Bru liked McNamara’s thinking and coaching methods, and brought him back to France with him as attack coach when taking up the main role at Bordeaux Bègles (UBB).

Helped by signing Damian Penaud, UBB upped their tally of 63 tries in the previous season (2022-23) to 124 in their first campaign and, of course, Bordeaux Bègles claimed their first major silverware by winning the Champions Cup two seasons ago and retaining it last May when beating Leinster in Bilbao.

McNamara had signed another extension with UBB until 2029 but, evidently, there is either a clause in that contract for him to accept any offer such as this, or UBB were not of a mind to stand in his way.

All players who have come under his wing, including Joey Carbery in these pages last Saturday, speak very highly of McNamara. This move is a gamble, no doubt, for both McNamara and Leinster, as it was with Cheika, Schmidt and Cullen.

It’s also another big ask of his wife Sinead and their three young daughters, aged from seven to 13. This will bring an end to four years in France. But it is probably not the worst age for them to return to the Irish education system and, in the heel of the hunt, McNamara could hardly refuse such a challenge.

gerry.thornley@irishtimes.com