Leo Cullen is looking forward to restoring Leinster's pride

New Leinster head coach Leo Cullen is confident he is ready for the challenge of leading his home province back to glory.

Cullen, who had already been in charge on an interim basis following the departure of Matt O'Connor at the end of last season, was appointed on a permanent basis last week after signing a two-year deal.

The 37-year-old, who won 221 caps for Leinster and won the Heineken Cup three times as captain, served as forwards coach under O'Connor last season.

While Cullen was long viewed as a future Leinster head coach, not many expected him to get the role so quickly but he insists he is ready for the opportunity.

"I was involved in a playing capacity with Leinster since I was seventeen, going back to 1995," Cullen told Sky Sports News HQ.

"I was fortunate to be given an opportunity as a forwards coach last season so there was a certain transitional period there for me.

"This year I have got the opportunity to step into the hot seat and I am really looking forward to the challenge.

"Leinster is a very ambitious club. It is going to be a very tough challenge for me and a big step up but I am really looking forward to it.   

Cullen faces a tough start to life as Leinster head coach as he has been without 23 of his players for the summer who were involved in Ireland's extended World Cup training squad.

A large portion of those will feature in Joe Schmidt's final 31-man squad and therefore be unavailable for the first part of the season with Leinster.

Cullen admitted the World Cup has hampered his preparations and spoke of the challenges of being without so many core members of his squad.

"It is something we always have to be aware of," Cullen admitted. "There are a few of the other teams in the Pro12 in a similar situation.

"We had 23 in the initial group and we had Zane Kirchner away with South Africa as well.

"All the while, it is just trying to communicate with the relevant people so we have a handle on when those guys are going to get integrated back into our programme.

"The Irish squad to go to the World Cup will get announced at the start of next week and then we will be in a situation where we can head into the early part of the season with those bodies.

"From our end it has been a really good opportunity to work with a lot of younger players. In a normal course of events you might not get that opportunity, so from that end it has been really, really good and hopefully we will get the benefits of that in the future."

Watch the Guinness Pro12 live on Sky Sports throughout the season