SETU proudly hosted the Leinster Rugby Staff and Club Coach Development Conference for 2025 on Friday 21 February at its Kilkenny Road campus in Carlow.
One of Ireland’s four professional provincial teams, Leinster Rugby is currently Ireland’s most successful club on both domestic and European level. The club currently holds the record for the most championships in the Guinness PRO14 Championship.
A day for learning
The conference saw Leinster coaches and club members come together to learn more about the coaching process. The day had a strong focus on age grade coaches who are currently working with players in the under sixteen to under eighteens, in club games.
We are delighted to host this conference here at SETU. We have a vibrant sporting community on campus and strong ties with Leinster Rugby Club through our Bachelor of Arts in Sports Management and Coaching in Rugby. Experienced coaches and educators from Leinster Rugby deliver player development and coach education modules on our programme. The conference is a great opportunity for the Leinster community to share insights, develop ideas and learn from leaders in this field.
Donal McNally Director of Sport at SETU
Keynote speakers
The conference featured a series of keynote addresses from industry experts speaking about club coaching, halftime team talks, plus coaching methods and tactics. Declan O’Brien, the Coach and Player Development Manager for Leinster opened the conference.
This conference is part of our staff and club coach development programme. Our aim is to create high quality coaching, high quality experiences for players, and improved participation and performance. This conference is one of many events aimed at strengthening our coaching community at Leinster Rugby.
Declan O’Brien Coach and Player Development Manager for Leinster
Participants also heard from two Leinster Pro Coaches, Tyler Bleyendaal and Jacques Nienabar, who spoke about ‘Creating a Co-Coaching Environment around Decision-making’ in both attack and defence.
New perspectives
At the end of the event, Leinster Head Coach and former Ireland Lock, Leo Cullen, joined all presenters onstage for an open forum question and answer session. This allowed participants to voice their opinions and further explore the topics that had been discussed.
