IT’S WORTH ZOOMING out to consider just how remarkable it is that Noel McNamara has been appointed Leinster’s next head coach.
This is a guy who never played rugby.
It’s not that McNamara wasn’t a professional rugby player; it’s that he wasn’t a rugby player at all. And now he has landed one of the top coaching jobs in rugby.
So it’s fair to say that the 43-year-old has come a long way from his family’s dairy farm in O’Callaghan’s Mills, a village in east County Clare. His rise from a first-ever rugby role coaching the Glenstal U14 team has been unique and impressive.
Like Joe Schmidt, McNamara has said he started as an “accidental coach,” but his upward trajectory has been planned and self-driven. Even in reaching Ireland U20 level back in 2017, he was an inspiration for others without pro playing backgrounds.
This is an appointment that has sparked excitement among Leinster supporters, with McNamara’s background prompting comparisons to Michael Cheika and Schmidt, who had huge success with the province as relatively unheralded first-time head coaches.
Equally, there will be those who see this as a risky punt by Leinster when they could have employed someone with experience as a head coach. In that sense, McNamara will be taking a hefty step-up when he succeeds Leo Cullen this summer.
Felipe Contepomi was the early front-runner, and his return to the province would undoubtedly have delighted many of Leinster’s fans, particularly given that the former out-half has international head coaching experience with Argentina.
The stars didn’t align, however, with Contepomi in contract until at least the end of the 2027 World Cup in November, meaning a delay in potentially joining Leinster, while renewing his deal as Pumas boss remains a distinct possibility.
It’s understood that ex-All Blacks and Crusaders head coach Scott Robertson was among the genuine options for Leinster and the IRFU, although current La Rochelle boss Ronan O’Gara was not approached.
It seems that all parties agreed McNamara was an ideal fit for what Leinster need.
Cullen will depart this summer after 12 years in charge, and there was a desire for a real sense of renewal with the next head coach appointment. McNamara should provide that with his energy and the ambition to prove himself at the top level.
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McNamara after last season's Champions Cup final in Bilbao. Nick Elliott / INPHO
Nick Elliott / INPHO / INPHO
Leinster already knew plenty about McNamara’s rugby acumen, given that he had a two-year spell as the province’s academy manager and coached lots of their underage sides before that, yet he will return to the province as a much-changed coach and person.
McNamara and his family will have been away from Ireland for five years by the time he returns, as well as having had a four-month stint in New Zealand rugby back in 2018. He has seen how things are done in South Africa and France. Some of his previous beliefs have been strengthened; others have changed.
Bordeaux have obviously got sensational attacking talent in their squad, but McNamara has made them a more effective and balanced team since joining in 2023. He has earned the respect of their players and been a key part of back-to-back Champions Cup successes. He will hope to sign off by helping them to their first-ever Top 14 title.
The fact that McNamara has earned the loyalty of the likes of superstars like Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Damian Penaud, Matthieu Jalibert and Maxime Lucu is a key point here.
The challenge for coaches without a notable playing background is to get respect from players. That might be unfair, but it’s the reality. Even some of the most technically and tactically astute coaches can fail to convince players they know what they’re doing.
McNamara is an affable and engaging person. He’s excellent at media work. Yet he also has an edge and a reassuring confidence in his coaching. If players sense a coach is just happy to be there, perhaps even a bit overawed, they will chew him up and spit him out.
McNamara has managed to flip that possibility on its head throughout his career. He is said to be demanding and authoritative, even while being an encouraging coach who wants his players to back their skillsets and express themselves.
And that said, McNamara is someone who brings huge attention to detail in his coaching. It’s not simply about flinging the ball around for the craic. Even the transition element of Bordeaux’s attack, which looks so instinctive, is based on planning and strategising by McNamara.
He understands the primacy of the set-piece and the kicking game, but it’s clear that McNamara likes exciting, fast, skilful attacking rugby. That’s what Leinster and their supporters like too.
McNamara will need all of his steel for this Leinster gig. Being the head coach is very different. The buck stops with the head coach. They have to handle the hard conversations and make the difficult final decisions. Players’ and assistants’ grievances are directed at them. They have to manage down to their squad and also up to the club’s hierarchy. They have to deal with media demands and say the right things in public. They have to keep the long-term health of the club in mind, but also win now. It is an all-consuming job, and it will be new to McNamara.
Leinster and the IRFU believe that McNamara has the appetite and work ethic for what’s ahead. Like Cheika and Schmidt before him, he’s eager to get to the top.
McNamara spent two years in South Africa with the Sharks. Steve Haag Sports / INPHO
Steve Haag Sports / INPHO / INPHO
Of course, no head coach operates in a complete silo. As McNamara knows so well, assistants are a vital part of the picture. They’re sounding boards, intermediaries with players, and key influences in the technical, tactical and mental areas of the team.
It will be intriguing to see who McNamara surrounds himself with and whether any of the current ticket of Jacques Nienaber, Robin McBryde, Tyler Bleyendaal, Seán O’Brien and Emmet Farrell are part of the plans.
Nienaber was suggested as a possible successor to Cullen but is widely expected to rejoin the Springboks at the end of this season when his Leinster contract expires, and has been linked with a return to the Stormers thereafter.
McNamara may well feel that a clean sweep is best, although his lack of experience as a head coach and as a player means there isn’t a long list of obvious assistants for him to turn to now.
Getting the right assistants around him will be crucial for McNamara, while Guy Easterby’s role as Leinster’s chief operating officer could be even more important given the new head coach’s lack of experience around things like contracting and succession planning. That kind of stuff can be exhausting for a head coach and take them away from their strengths. The long-serving Easterby was central in McNamara’s appointment, and will soon work closely with him.
The IRFU’s role is important to consider too, given that all the provincial head coaches are directly contracted to the union. It’s believed that it was Leinster who drove the recruitment process, but the IRFU had central input and had to greenlight the deal.
McNamara is something of a company man in that sense, having led various Irish age-grade sides, most notably the U20s, worked with the Leinster academy and been head coach of the province’s A team, and then had union help him in finding opportunities outside the country.
Ex-IRFU performance director David Nucifora facilitated McNamara’s short-term spell with North Harbour in New Zealand, as well as his permanent move to the Sharks. That switch to South Africa came in 2021, when there was no opening in Leinster’s senior coaching staff. McNamara wasn’t interested in a holding pattern, wanted to get back coaching full-time, and sought the chance to drive his career on.
He went abroad with the IRFU’s blessing and assurance that they would love to see him back in the future.
As his reputation developed quietly at first and then exploded with Bordeaux, it became obvious that the IRFU would look to bring him home. David Humphreys, the current performance director, appears similarly impressed with McNamara as Nucifora was.
McNamara with Ireland U20s assistant Paul O'Connell in 2017. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
And that’s the thing. McNamara seems to make a strong impression on everyone he encounters in rugby, including some big names in South Africa and France who definitely had no clue who he was when they first met.
If you sat him down with even his biggest doubters, McNamara’s conviction, clarity and assurance would likely win them over.
Most of Leinster’s players already know him, the province are delighted to have landed one of the most exciting young coaches in the game, the IRFU’s plan to get him back as a better coach has come to fruition, and supporters appear to be on board too.
McNamara has his biggest coaching test yet ahead of him, but he will be tackling it with the same vigour that has brought him from nowhere on the rugby map to one of its top jobs.
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Leinster back McNamara's growing reputation in exciting appointment
IT’S WORTH ZOOMING out to consider just how remarkable it is that Noel McNamara has been appointed Leinster’s next head coach.
This is a guy who never played rugby.
It’s not that McNamara wasn’t a professional rugby player; it’s that he wasn’t a rugby player at all. And now he has landed one of the top coaching jobs in rugby.
So it’s fair to say that the 43-year-old has come a long way from his family’s dairy farm in O’Callaghan’s Mills, a village in east County Clare. His rise from a first-ever rugby role coaching the Glenstal U14 team has been unique and impressive.
Like Joe Schmidt, McNamara has said he started as an “accidental coach,” but his upward trajectory has been planned and self-driven. Even in reaching Ireland U20 level back in 2017, he was an inspiration for others without pro playing backgrounds.
This is an appointment that has sparked excitement among Leinster supporters, with McNamara’s background prompting comparisons to Michael Cheika and Schmidt, who had huge success with the province as relatively unheralded first-time head coaches.
Equally, there will be those who see this as a risky punt by Leinster when they could have employed someone with experience as a head coach. In that sense, McNamara will be taking a hefty step-up when he succeeds Leo Cullen this summer.
Felipe Contepomi was the early front-runner, and his return to the province would undoubtedly have delighted many of Leinster’s fans, particularly given that the former out-half has international head coaching experience with Argentina.
The stars didn’t align, however, with Contepomi in contract until at least the end of the 2027 World Cup in November, meaning a delay in potentially joining Leinster, while renewing his deal as Pumas boss remains a distinct possibility.
It’s understood that ex-All Blacks and Crusaders head coach Scott Robertson was among the genuine options for Leinster and the IRFU, although current La Rochelle boss Ronan O’Gara was not approached.
It seems that all parties agreed McNamara was an ideal fit for what Leinster need.
Cullen will depart this summer after 12 years in charge, and there was a desire for a real sense of renewal with the next head coach appointment. McNamara should provide that with his energy and the ambition to prove himself at the top level.
Leinster already knew plenty about McNamara’s rugby acumen, given that he had a two-year spell as the province’s academy manager and coached lots of their underage sides before that, yet he will return to the province as a much-changed coach and person.
McNamara and his family will have been away from Ireland for five years by the time he returns, as well as having had a four-month stint in New Zealand rugby back in 2018. He has seen how things are done in South Africa and France. Some of his previous beliefs have been strengthened; others have changed.
Bordeaux have obviously got sensational attacking talent in their squad, but McNamara has made them a more effective and balanced team since joining in 2023. He has earned the respect of their players and been a key part of back-to-back Champions Cup successes. He will hope to sign off by helping them to their first-ever Top 14 title.
The fact that McNamara has earned the loyalty of the likes of superstars like Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Damian Penaud, Matthieu Jalibert and Maxime Lucu is a key point here.
The challenge for coaches without a notable playing background is to get respect from players. That might be unfair, but it’s the reality. Even some of the most technically and tactically astute coaches can fail to convince players they know what they’re doing.
McNamara is an affable and engaging person. He’s excellent at media work. Yet he also has an edge and a reassuring confidence in his coaching. If players sense a coach is just happy to be there, perhaps even a bit overawed, they will chew him up and spit him out.
McNamara has managed to flip that possibility on its head throughout his career. He is said to be demanding and authoritative, even while being an encouraging coach who wants his players to back their skillsets and express themselves.
And that said, McNamara is someone who brings huge attention to detail in his coaching. It’s not simply about flinging the ball around for the craic. Even the transition element of Bordeaux’s attack, which looks so instinctive, is based on planning and strategising by McNamara.
He understands the primacy of the set-piece and the kicking game, but it’s clear that McNamara likes exciting, fast, skilful attacking rugby. That’s what Leinster and their supporters like too.
McNamara will need all of his steel for this Leinster gig. Being the head coach is very different. The buck stops with the head coach. They have to handle the hard conversations and make the difficult final decisions. Players’ and assistants’ grievances are directed at them. They have to manage down to their squad and also up to the club’s hierarchy. They have to deal with media demands and say the right things in public. They have to keep the long-term health of the club in mind, but also win now. It is an all-consuming job, and it will be new to McNamara.
Leinster and the IRFU believe that McNamara has the appetite and work ethic for what’s ahead. Like Cheika and Schmidt before him, he’s eager to get to the top.
Of course, no head coach operates in a complete silo. As McNamara knows so well, assistants are a vital part of the picture. They’re sounding boards, intermediaries with players, and key influences in the technical, tactical and mental areas of the team.
It will be intriguing to see who McNamara surrounds himself with and whether any of the current ticket of Jacques Nienaber, Robin McBryde, Tyler Bleyendaal, Seán O’Brien and Emmet Farrell are part of the plans.
Nienaber was suggested as a possible successor to Cullen but is widely expected to rejoin the Springboks at the end of this season when his Leinster contract expires, and has been linked with a return to the Stormers thereafter.
McNamara may well feel that a clean sweep is best, although his lack of experience as a head coach and as a player means there isn’t a long list of obvious assistants for him to turn to now.
Getting the right assistants around him will be crucial for McNamara, while Guy Easterby’s role as Leinster’s chief operating officer could be even more important given the new head coach’s lack of experience around things like contracting and succession planning. That kind of stuff can be exhausting for a head coach and take them away from their strengths. The long-serving Easterby was central in McNamara’s appointment, and will soon work closely with him.
The IRFU’s role is important to consider too, given that all the provincial head coaches are directly contracted to the union. It’s believed that it was Leinster who drove the recruitment process, but the IRFU had central input and had to greenlight the deal.
McNamara is something of a company man in that sense, having led various Irish age-grade sides, most notably the U20s, worked with the Leinster academy and been head coach of the province’s A team, and then had union help him in finding opportunities outside the country.
Ex-IRFU performance director David Nucifora facilitated McNamara’s short-term spell with North Harbour in New Zealand, as well as his permanent move to the Sharks. That switch to South Africa came in 2021, when there was no opening in Leinster’s senior coaching staff. McNamara wasn’t interested in a holding pattern, wanted to get back coaching full-time, and sought the chance to drive his career on.
He went abroad with the IRFU’s blessing and assurance that they would love to see him back in the future.
As his reputation developed quietly at first and then exploded with Bordeaux, it became obvious that the IRFU would look to bring him home. David Humphreys, the current performance director, appears similarly impressed with McNamara as Nucifora was.
And that’s the thing. McNamara seems to make a strong impression on everyone he encounters in rugby, including some big names in South Africa and France who definitely had no clue who he was when they first met.
If you sat him down with even his biggest doubters, McNamara’s conviction, clarity and assurance would likely win them over.
Most of Leinster’s players already know him, the province are delighted to have landed one of the most exciting young coaches in the game, the IRFU’s plan to get him back as a better coach has come to fruition, and supporters appear to be on board too.
McNamara has his biggest coaching test yet ahead of him, but he will be tackling it with the same vigour that has brought him from nowhere on the rugby map to one of its top jobs.
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Head Coach highly rated Leinster New gig Noel McNamara