A born leader is how Aidan McCullen refers to his long time friend Leo Cullen who today is officially unveiled as Leinster's head coach.

“Leo has always been a leader he always showed huge maturity when the rest of us didn’t from a very young age. He’s been destined for a role of leadership I’m delighted this happened. Kudos to Mick Dawson (Leinster chief executive), the Leinster branch and the IRFU for having faith in him because he will deliver”.

McCullen says Cullen’s understanding of the game is one of his stand out traits; “a lot of us were nearly retired by the time we really understood how to orchestrate a game, Leo always had that  from a young age when he played number 8 in the early days. He just marshalled the pack and was the liaison between forwards and backs and did it remarkably well”.

The Wicklow man’s gym work and rehab from injuries are things that McCullen says Cullen also did better than the rest while he says he was never afraid to speak to players older or younger if he felt they needed a word in the ear. The second row spent two successful seasons at Leicester and returned with ideas and a mindset that improved and further professionalised the province.

McCullen who has played with London Irish, Toulouse and Leinster spoke to us about why his friend is the correct choice even though he only retired from playing in 2014 and spent just one season as a forwards coach before stepping up.