WHEN STUART LANCASTER first arrived at Leinster in September, he brought with him a dented reputation.
Perhaps that was unfair based on his time as England head coach overall, but no one could have come away from the pool-stage exit at a home World Cup with anything other than negative reviews.
It appeared that there was even some pleasure taken in deriding Lancaster on account of the failure to advance to the knock-out stages in 2015, but his removal as England head coach was the only viable outcome.
Joining up with Leinster provided the 47-year-old with an opportunity to rebuild his damaged reputation, while also getting back to his coaching roots – taking a hands-on role after he had gradually relinquished that with England.
The appointment of Lancaster as ‘Senior Coach’ for this season can only be seen as a success from Leinster’s point of view so far, with the Englishman making a telling impact and earning the squad’s respect.
The eastern province are five points off Guinness Pro12 leaders Munster before this evening’s clash with Zebre at the RDS, while they are five points clear at the top of Pool 4 of the Champions Cup with two rounds to go.
Clearly Lancaster doesn’t deserve all the credit for that fine first half of the campaign – Leo Cullen and co. are learning and improving all the time – but word is that Leinster’s players have been impressed with his work on the training ground and around the set-up.
Lancaster himself said back in September that there was “a perception in England that I probably didn’t do any coaching,” but he has shown strong technical and tactical knowledge across all areas of the game at Leinster.
It’s also understood that players enjoy his direct manner of interaction and believe Lancaster’s delivery has accelerated their development collectively and as individual players.
On the outside, the impression has been positive too. Lancaster has been honest and insightful in most of his dealings with the media, and many supporters have been quick to link his arrival with an upturn in Leinster’s performances.
The television images of Lancaster speaking to the Leinster team at half-time during their win away to Northampton in the Champions Cup only helped further the sense that the former England coach is influential within the province’s camp.
Lancaster is only contracted until the end of the current season, but it’s fair to say that many would now like to see him remain at Leinster beyond the summer.
However, the former Leeds player has been linked with several ‘number one’ positions elsewhere in recent times and it is likely that he is an increasingly attractive proposition for a range of clubs.
Leicester are currently in the market after the sacking of director of rugby Richard Cockerill, while Lancaster was linked with the Connacht job after confirmation that Pat Lam will leave for Bristol in June.
The Englishman had also been linked with Bristol before Lam’s appointment was announced, although he denied having had any contact.
The position of Jim Mallinder at Northampton is understood to remain shaky, while Worcester have not appointed a director of rugby since the departure of Dean Ryan last June.
Speaking back in September, Lancaster said he wasn’t thinking about a number one position.
“Further down the line, opportunities might come up,” said Lancaster at that point. “It is not something I crave at the moment.”
That has perhaps changed in the meantime and it will be fascinating to see what Lancaster’s next move is.
Leinster head coach Cullen was appointed on a two-year deal as head coach in 2015, meaning his future is also unclear at present. The appointment of Lancaster as a previously unheard of ‘Senior Coach’ appeared to muddy Cullen’s future, and there remains a lack of clarity over the province’s plans.
It may even be that Lancaster’s future is tied up with Cullen’s.
But if Lancaster is to remain beyond the summer, he may want to be the clear number one, rather than serving as part of Cullen’s staff – which he was quick to point out would be the case when he first arrived.
So Cullen was perhaps understandably evasive yesterday when asked if he would like to see Lancaster tied down to Leinster into next season, amidst the recent speculation of a move elsewhere.
“Yeah… it’s a difficult question to answer,” said Cullen. “Yeah, Stuart’s gone well and we’re having discussions all the time, and it’s all ongoing.
“So we’ll see. I’m sure you guys will be the first to know if we have anything to announce.”
It’s certain that Leinster’s Professional Game Board have been pondering the issue recently, particularly after their lack of a concrete plan was exposed after the exit of Matt O’Connor with a year left on his contract.
The province are unlikely to be caught in a similar position again, meaning they will surely be making a move soon. Whether or not Lancaster is part of the picture moving into 2017/18 remains to be seen.
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Compared to Jones,Lancaster is a breath of fresh air.
But as a supporter would you rather your opponents liked you and you lost or disliked you and you win.
Even as an Ireland supporter I feel somewhat more comfortable with an English setup I can despise again. Now all he has to do is get Ashton back into the team…
@john free: England actually had a very good win rate under Lancaster. Obviously not as good as under Jones, but it’s not the difference between win or lose. More the difference between win mist of the time and win all of the time.
I say sign the two lads up again. Seems to be working and most leister fans are happy at the halfway stages
He was unlucky to get sacked jones is living off the team he built
What about the Leinster fans though??
No matter what, I would love to have him still coaching in Ireland next season. Be that with Connacht or Leinster, he’s top quality and chances like this don’t come around to often.
Leinster need to bite the bullet & appoint Lancaster.
How about Lancaster stays on at Leinster as head coach and Cullen goes to Connaught to further his carrier think it would be a win win for all…
@Glenn Finlay: not hard to guess your a Leinster fan rather than Connacht.
Reports suggest that Doak is heading to Connacht.
Groan.
Whilst SL is obviously a decent bloke with a proven track record of developing talent, he was totally out of his depth coaching England. His selection policy was totally inconsistent and his grasp of tactics muddled. Anyone who consistently picked Brad Barritt at 12 or 13 and also left Itoje out of the RWC because he “wasn’t ready” – despite the rest of the world realising he was – clearly didn’t have a clue.
It’s instructive that, when mooted as becoming Harlequins director of rugby, the England players at ‘Quins vetoed the move.
To say EJ is “living off the team he built” is wrong. It’s more like Jones had exactly the same players to pick from that SL did but somehow managed to win the Grand Slam, beat the Aussies 4-0 and rack up an unbeaten year.
Lancaster may develop over time, with junior roles but any club installing him as the main man would be taking a big risk as he has no track record of successfully running a top side.
People seem to forget his English failure was down to his captain going for 5 points and a win rather than take a simply 3 and a draw in the World Cup pool of death. A draw in that game and england progress in their home tournament and who knows what might have happened.
Since he’s gone england has returned to a horrible team coached and captained by thugs
Exactly Chris. Lancaster had started off with kids and created a very good young team and developed some very good players. They’d also beaten the All Black’s a couple of times during his time but he will somehow be seen as a failure because his captain made the wrong decision.
@Chris Mcdonnell:
That failure againt Wales was down to poor coaching and preparation. If you have a bright captain (like Sam Warburton) then you let him decide to take the 3 or not because he understands the bigger picture and can think clearly under stress. If you have a dumb captain then you go over all the possible scenarios before the game so that he knows which option to take. Although Robshaw had already taken two highly publicised wrong options previously this failsafe obviously hadn’t been done.
This lack of coaching/preparation was evident when Billy Vunipola had scored the bonus point try in the group game against Fiji and when interviewed afterwards he didn’t realise that there was a bonus point for four tries!
Lancaster’s failure wasn’t simply not getting out of the RWC group. It was not moving the England team along one iota from where he’d started. After 4yrs he still had no idea of his ideal XV or how they were going to play.
” england has returned to a horrible team coached and captained by thugs”
That’s a bit harsh! No-one was complaing Japan were coached by thugs when they beat the Boks wre they? As an England fan I’m glad people don’t like us. They’re not supposed to.
@Paul K Murphy:
Indeed. Well said.
He does seem like a really genuine, nice bloke.
Hopefully he’ll do some good things in the future.
I think Lancaster is enjoying being away from the spotlight of the English media. His head coach role with Leinster also allows him a more hands on role that an English club director of rugby role may not.
Hopefully the enjoyment of his job will see Lancaster bring his family over and re-sign with Leinster.The IRFU cannot and wont compete financially with an English club if one comes in.
Leinster Impact , the pro 12 franchise.
I think Lancaster’s role is different to McQuilkin’s. McQuilkin was focused on defence predominantly and had more time to invest in tackle technique etc.
Lancaster seems to be doing a bit of everything-technical coaching, attack coaching, defence coaching etc-and haso less time to focus on defence as a result.
Replying to @Sup there.
His record and development of young players at Leeds Tykes (Yorkshire Carnegie) and England RFU Development role, would be good for either Connacht or Leinster. Remember every coaching job ends in failure at some point.
Dipping his toe before the money is back on the table.
Statistically The Leinster defense has gotten worse since he came in.
Attacking wise there seems to be more structure but is that his influence or girve?
His attack responsibilities are usually set piece plays, those have been very good. Bit much to expect him to do better than McQuilken in defence, but it’s not been too bad either, their defence still holds up well. I’m sure his influence in the academy and passing experience on to Cullen has helped things too.