Leinster's highest profile players Rob Kearney, Devin Toner and Joe Tomane will be out of contract in June this year, and the trio still haven't decided on whether to join another club or to retire.
Speaking on a video conference call, Leinster boss Leo Cullen admitted that his coaching staff have not agreed any deals and will pursue a policy of promoting players from within their own academy ranks.
“We don’t have as much change as many other teams,” said Cullen.
“...We’re a very settled group for the most part. A lot of younger players will get promoted from the academy and, as is the case every year, there are going to be a few players who retire at the end of the season.”
Cullen said that the current impact of Covid-19 restrictions putting rugby on hold is “a huge challenge” for players whose contracts are expiring but who had not planned on retiring.
“Ultimately the players are going to have to decide more often than not what they are going to do, and there’s going to be a number of factors that will pay into that.
"Are they going to join another club? Are they going to retire completely? What’s the financial situation etc, etc?
"There’s a huge amount of factors that we don’t know yet".
Following fears that there may not be any mass gatherings for sport for the remainder of 2020, Cullen also commented on the possibility of playing games behind closed doors:
“We will just get on with that if that is the arrangement.
“We’ve all been involved in training games and pre-season games where there is not that same crowd atmosphere at games.
“It takes away from what supporters bring and we have been incredibly lucky over the last number of years in terms of the involvement our supporters have had, but it would be better than nothing and it would allow us to get the sport back up and running.”
