Jacques Nienaber, Tyler Bleyendaal and Robin McBryde have all extended their contracts to remain on Leo Cullen’s coaching ticket at Leinster until the end of the 2026/27 season. Nienaber will therefore seemingly not be rejoining the Springboks coaching staff when South Africa bid for a third World Cup in succession in Australia 2027, although it would still be a possibility.
Nienaber joined Leinster as senior coach in November 2023 after helping South Africa retain the William Webb Ellis trophy in Paris the previous month and set about radically overhauling the province’s defence.
His first season ended anticlimactically with defeat in the Champions Cup final after extra time against Toulouse and a semi-final loss in the URC against the Bulls in Pretoria. But after a major bump in the road when losing a Champions Cup semi-final by 37-34 at home to Northampton last season, Leinster beat the Stormers 32-7 in the URC final.
Last season was Bleyendaal’s first as attack coach with Leinster while McBryde has been forwards coach with the province since 2019.
RM Block
Emmet Farrell, their former outhalf and current lead performance analyst, has been appointed to the newly created role of provincial kicking coach, essentially a broadening of his current remit as kicking coach with the senior team in order to work with the clubs and schools, and the player pathway.
Brian Colclough has taken over Farrell’s former position as lead performance analyst. Colclough has been with Leinster since the 2016/17 season and has in the past worked with Samoa at the most recent Rugby World Cup and was part of the Irish Rugby backroom team during the games against Georgia and Portugal this summer.
“I think we can all appreciate the work that Robin, Jacques and Tyler have done but also the mark that they have left and are leaving on Leinster in their time here,” said Leo Cullen after an open training session in Greystones RFC in Wicklow.
“They have all brought tonnes of relevant experience and a different perspective to how we do things and I think that’s hugely important for the development of our group, that we hear other voices and other ways of operating.
“It’s not just around the senior team as well, you see it with our Academy players and the work that they do visiting the clubs and the schools and giving freely of their time. I’m delighted to have them all on board again.
“I am also delighted for Emmet, someone who has been a key part of the success of this club on and off the field for more than 20 years that he gets an opportunity to continue to grow as a coach and that others will benefit, not just ourselves based here in UCD.
“That consistency and alignment is crucial for us between what we are doing here in UCD and the brilliant work under way in our pathways and at the Ken Wall Centre of Excellence in Energia Park.
“That new role for Emmet offers an opportunity for Brian to move up and also for Juliette Fortune to move up to a more senior role in the analysis team, and I am delighted for them both.
“They both started with us as interns and it’s brilliant to see them continue their professional journey with us at Leinster.”
