Leo Cullen (rugby union)

Leo Cullen

Personal information
Full name	Leo Francis M. Cullen
Date of birth	(1978-01-09) 9 January 1978
Place of birth	Wicklow, County Wicklow, Ireland
Height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight	17 st 7 lb (111 kg)
School(s) attended	Willow Park School Blackrock College
University(s)	University College Dublin
Club information
Position(s)	Lock
Current club	Leinster Rugby
Youth clubs
Years Club Blackrock College RFC Leinster Academy
Senior clubs*
Years Club Apps (points) 1998–2005 2005–2007 2007–2014 Leinster Leicester Tigers Leinster 79 (15) 56 (0) 140 (5)
Representative teams**
2002–2011 2000-2007 1998 1997 1996  Ireland Ireland A Ireland U-21s Ireland U-19s Ireland Schools 32 (0) 16 (0) 16 4 7
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only and correct as of 19 February 2015. ** Representative team caps and points correct as of 19 February 2015.

Leo Cullen (born 9 January 1978) is a retired Irish rugby union player who played Lock for Irish club Leinster Rugby and Ireland. He was educated, firstly at Willow Park which is the junior school to Blackrock College where he attended secondary school. He attended University College Dublin after leaving school.

Career

Schools Rugby

Cullen won a Leinster Schools Senior Cup medal in 1995 as well as 1996, when Blackrock beat a Newbridge College team which included Geordan Murphy.^[1]

Club career

Cullen began his career with Leinster by representing them at schoolboy level in 1995 before moving on to their U20 team where he won 7 caps. He also made 5 appearances on the 'A' team and finally debuted on the senior team where he was part of the squad that won the Celtic League. He moved to Leicester Tigers in 2005 where he made 56 appearances, 15 as captain. He was a part of the squad that won the EDF Energy Cup and Guinness Premiership in 2007. He was also on the losing side in the 2007 Heineken Cup Final, when London Wasps defeated Leicester at Twickenham Stadium. He rejoined Leinster in 2007 and was part of the squad that won the 2007/2008 Magners League. On 26 August 2008, he was named as Leinster captain following Brian O'Driscoll stepping down from the role meaning he has captained most of the teams he has played on.^[2] He led Leinster to success in their first ever Heineken Cup in 2009, beating Leicester in the final. He also captained Leinster in 2011 to another Heineken Cup victory, and in 2012 became the 1st person to captain a team to three Heineken Cup victories.

Cullen retired in May 2014 after winning the 2014 Pro12 Grand Final, he will remain at Leinster as a forwards coach.^[3]

International career

Cullen has represented his country at all levels, 7 caps at schools level, then captaining the U19 team 3 times in 4 caps. He went on to captain the U21s 14 times in 16 appearances. He also appeared for the U25 team and has been capped 16 times at 'A' level where he captained the team against England. He made his senior debut against the All Blacks in Auckland in 2002,^[4] and was the 100th man to captain Ireland, against Scotland on the 6th of August 2011.^[5]

References

External links

• Leinster profile
• Scrum.com