Although their recent shortcomings in the United Rugby Championship and the European Champions Cup was a topic of discussion during the latest contract negotiations with the former Ireland international, Nolan is adamant he remains the best man to take the province forward.

“We have to factor in the fact that we haven’t won anything in three years and me sitting here making a head coach appointment decision, of course we factor that in. We have to, but we also need to look beyond that as well and say ‘well, behind the actual result, are we reaching finals?’ Yes, we are. ‘Are we competing in these finals in terms of against the best teams in Europe?’ Yes we are,” Nolan explained in a media call yesterday.

“If you look beyond that, our team is largely homegrown. 85, 90% of our team come through the pathways that Leo oversees in terms of the academy and then into our team. Then we do look to the external market for either coaches or players. The best talent in world rugby wants to come and work with Leo, wants to work in his team.

“Then beyond that, there’s the whole piece around Leo. He gets Leinster. He’s a stalwart of the club, but he understands importantly our culture. He understands our ethos. He understands the importance of a connection to the clubs, the schools, the communities. He gets our DNA and that’s really important for us.

“When you factor all of that in, you can see that we do look clearly at the last three years and not winning a trophy, but it can’t be the only thing we look at. We look at it from a holistic point of view. When we look at that broader lens, then it becomes an easy decision for us to make.”

Interestingly, Cullen’s newest contract is due to expire in the same year as Andy Farrell’s current deal as Ireland head coach is set to run out.

This might lead to some speculation that Cullen could be in line to step into the international arena within the next few years, but Nolan insisted the lengths of their respective contracts is merely a coincidence.

“That’s just coincidental. There’s no master plan there. Certainly, from Leo’s point of view, we make that decision based on Leinster and Leo’s needs, and [IRFU High Performance Director] David Humphreys is part of the conversation. There’s no grand master plan in terms of coordinating contracts. I think Leo has mentioned before that he has ambitions.

“A national team coach is definitely something he talked about before and I think he should have those ambitions, but he’s absolutely thrilled to be continuing in Leinster for another two years and we’re obviously thrilled to have him. Nobody is in a job forever and Leo has got aspirations to be a national coach. We’d be very supportive of that, but equally we’re delighted to get him for two more years.”

Meanwhile, Nolan also revealed that there is set to be an update in the coming weeks on the redevelopment of the RDS Arena in Ballsbridge.

The Aviva Stadium has become the temporary home venue for Leinster this season due to the work being done in the RDS and while it is too early to confirm when the restructure of the ground is set to be completed, Nolan acknowledged that plans are being put in place in the event that it is once again unavailable to them for the 2025-26 season.

“We’re out of there this season and we’re making contingency plans if we happen to be out for the following season. Now that the project has started we’ll get into those conversations around exact timelines. We’ll narrow that down over the next few weeks, I would hope, and get something out to our supporters then,” Nolan added.