Leo Cullen yesterday expressed the view that Stuart Lancaster was "a good fit" for the Leinster coaching ticket and thus the entire organisation. Listening to the former England head coach speak enthusiastically of his new role, Leinster are evidently an ideal port of call for Lancaster.[/BYLINE1]
As an initially short-term replacement for Kurt McQuilkin as defence coach – “straight away,” according to Cullen – both he and Lancaster said his role would take in attack and helping with the academy. His CV suggests his remit will be broadened in due course.
Lancaster has been coaching for 16 seasons, longer than Leo Cullen, Girvan Dempsey and John Fogarty combined. Lancaster ran the Leeds Academy for five years before leading them to first promotion and then relegation, and was then head coach of the England Saxons as part of his remit as the RFU’s elite rugby director prior to taking over as England head coach for four years.
His understandable desire to spend more time on the training ground after his tenure as England head coach has been evidenced by the manner he has filled in the last nine months, with the NFL franchise the Atlanta Falcons, British Cycling, the English FA and most recently coaching with Counties Manukau in New Zealand.
“The main focus for me following the World Cup was to go and experience other environments and get some perspective from the huge emotional disappointment of not getting out of the pool stages.”
[CROSSHEAD]‘Something different’[/CROSSHEAD] “In terms of job opportunities, I was keen to do something different. The balance has always been trying to get that decision right alongside the family [life]. People underestimate the impact being an international coach has on your family, on my wife and two kids, who are 15 and 16, and have just come through GCSEs and exams.”
“For me going to coach in the southern hemisphere is one thing. But, what impact does that have on them? I did look at opportunities over there but they didn’t come up. As a consequence, other opportunities presented themselves.
“I tried to just broaden my horizons and wait for the right opportunity to arise which fitted not just me as a coach and the environment I was coming too, but also fitted the family.”
[CROSSHEAD]Jump on a plane[/CROSSHEAD] “I don’t have to relocate my family to anywhere. I can jump on a plane at Leeds Bradford and I will be here in 45 minutes. That is perfect for me. I can still get home and see them. That is a big part of the equation for me.”
Lancaster raised eyebrows yesterday by stating he would seek to help Leinster become a dominant force in European rugby again, and believes they are closer than is suggested by last season’s grim return of one home win over Bath in an admittedly brutally tough pool containing Toulon and Wasps.
“I don’t think they’re very far [away] at all. Obviously, it is a very difficult competition to win. I know a lot about the English Premiership and I know a lot about Saracens, for example. I know a lot of the fundamentals that underpin that club. Leinster have got all the foundations in place. Why not? You look at the quality of the team, the coaching environment they’ve got.”
“I have to appreciate how the players sometimes have to work between club and country,” he admitted. “Clearly, when those European games come around, Leinster should have their best team on the field. That should be the target. That is not to say the Pro12 is not a target. Having got to the final only to lose, I’m sure the burning desire is to win it this year.”
In his time as England head coach, they beat Ireland in four of five meetings, but four second-placed finishes in the Six Nations were compounded by their pool exit in the World Cup when losing to Wales and Australia.
“Ultimately I was proud to have played a part in their development,” he said yesterday, estimating that he gave test debuts to 25 or more players.
