Lancaster finds perfect fit at Leinster – Andy Goode
Stuart Lancaster has found his perfect fit at Leinster, his coaching methods are bearing fruit and he might just choose to stick around even when the top job offers come his way.
This is Leo Cullen’s Leinster and the Irishman has led them to within 80 minutes of European glory but Lancaster’s road to redemption could get the reward of a trophy just a couple of years after he was still being derided by many for failing to get England out of the group at their home World Cup.
The ferocity of everything they do at the moment is incredible, whether it’s with ball in hand or in defence, and absolutely everyone seems to understand their role and what is expected of them which is a huge testament to the coaching at the club.
Their physicality at the breakdown was impressive again at the weekend and they are just winning all of the collisions in defence and attack. Shane Williams highlighted Isa Nacewa in the build-up and suggested he could be targeted but he’s been brilliant lately and you just don’t see any weaknesses.
Their set piece is awesome, all the forwards can handle the ball and it’s just wave after wave when it comes to attack and a brick wall in defence. The Scarlets will be disappointed with the way the game went but for me it was the compete performance from Leinster.
It isn’t just the 15 or 23 who starred on Saturday either. The depth in this Leinster squad is almost more impressive. Jamison Gibson-Park stepped in for Luke McGrath without missing a beat and James Lowe has been outstanding recently but didn’t feature.
The back row is rightly getting a lot of plaudits and they’re without Sean O’Brien, who’s awful luck with injuries is continuing, Rhys Ruddock and Josh van der Flier.
And, Ross Byrne or Joey Carbery is going to have to travel north to Ulster next season if they want to get game time because a certain Johnny Sexton isn’t going anywhere.
The academy system and what’s going on behind the scenes is the envy of clubs all over Europe and they have now got a brilliant balance of youth coming through, some seasoned Irish internationals, carefully chosen overseas players in Scott Fardy, Nacewa, Lowe and Gibson-Park and a fella called Sexton to bring it all together.
You can label certain teams with a particular way of playing but this Leinster side is capable of winning games in so many different ways.
They can play an exciting brand of rugby and run it from their own 22 as they showed against Saracens in the quarter-final, they can play pragmatically with a fantastic set piece game and driving game and their kicking game is up there with the best.
It was telling to me as well that they were sat down in the changing room afterwards and there was no whooping and hollering. They were calm and collected and they understand that they may have won a semi-final but there is an expectation that they’ll be champions.
Racing have got players who can create individual moments of brilliance like Leone Nakarawa, Virimi Vakatawa and Teddy Thomas. They can come up with something out of nothing in the final but if it comes down to tactics and the ability to work out how to win a game, then Leinster win it hands down.
People are comparing this team to Brian O’Driscoll’s side that won the European Cup three times in the space of four seasons and they haven’t won one yet, so you can’t talk about them creating a dynasty or put them in the same bracket but the age profile of the squad and the blend is perfect and everything is in place for them to achieve sustained success.
They seem a very grounded group of players but the younger ones will be fed up of hearing about the O’Driscoll era. They won’t openly say that but the likes of Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose will want to put their names up in lights as winners of this trophy and are systematically going about doing that.
Cullen is pretty young in the coaching game but he’s taken to it like a duck to water and is aided perfectly by Stuart Lancaster and they’re going places.
Lancaster was a number one with England but he was shoehorned into that role without having the necessary experience and understanding of the role, whereas his experience and understanding of how to improve players, their skillset and knowledge is spot on.
He’s proven himself to be among the best when it comes to working with players individually rather than being the head voice of a group.
All of the players speak very highly of him and the work he does with them. Some of the snippets you hear such as the work he’s been doing on the footwork to find ways of getting through the tackle line and make an extra yard or so will sound like minor details to some people but they’re making a major difference.
It isn’t just the likes of Henshaw or Ringrose who he’s got working on their footwork either, it’s Tadhg Furlong and James Ryan as well. The front five are running great angles and using their footwork to get through the contact instead of just accepting the tackle.
Sometimes those intricacies that are worked on a lot in academy and development roles get lost when you’re at the top level and you’re focusing on getting results week in, week out but he’s getting them to focus on those details and improve themselves.
Those are the little differences that make a big difference in the biggest games of a season.
The World Cup exit at the group stage will always define him as an England coach but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t a very good coach.
Harlequins are looking for a Director of Rugby, as other clubs have been recently, and his name is naturally going to be linked to those vacancies because he is doing a good job and is in a successful environment.
Only he knows whether or not he feels the need to be that top man again or feels he has a point to prove but being a Director of Rugby and being a Head Coach or Senior Coach are two completely different jobs nowadays and I think he’s in the perfect position right now.
I’m not saying that he’ll never be a Director of Rugby or have the top job again but the role that he’s playing under Cullen suits him perfectly with his background. Leo is the head voice and that gives him the freedom to focus on what he’s good at.
I remember playing with Leo at Leicester and he was always in the analysis room. He was an absolute nause but you could tell that he was going to take that knowledge and be successful when he started his pathway into coaching.
Leinster did go out in the pool stages in his first season back in 2015/16, though, but they reached the semi-final last year before losing to Clermont and it’s been a year-on-year progression for them.
Now it’s their time. The players are ready, Cullen has led them to this point and England’s World Cup disaster will look that bit further in the distance in the rear-view mirror to Lancaster when he lifts the biggest trophy in European club rugby in three weeks’ time.
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
2 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments