The loss of Lancaster continues to haunt English rugby
The last couple of weeks have been a tough reminder for England fans on what might have been.
Just 15 days after an Andy Farrell-coached Ireland defence stymied England at Twickenham, a Stuart Lancaster-coached Leinster attack ended Saracens’ bid for a third-straight European title at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Both men were among the high-profile casualties following England’s pool stage exit at their own Rugby World Cup in 2015, but they have since excelled in new roles and have proven themselves to be irksome thorns in English rugby’s side.
The need for the RFU to have a clean break after that RWC was understandable.
If Lancaster and Farrell had been retained by England in one role or another and Eddie Jones brought in, there would have undoubtedly been a power struggle. It would have also taken the legs out from underneath Lancaster – see Nick Kennedy at London Irish – and have been, for want of a better word, a bit of a slap in the face.
The inaction of Premiership clubs to snap the pair up, though, looks worse by the day.
Missing out on Farrell was perhaps inevitable, given the interest the IRFU had in him and the chance for redemption at international level having been too much to pass up. The Lancaster snub, though, was head-scratching at the time and now, with hindsight, it’s progressed to a facepalm-level decision.
Whatever you may have thought of his selections as England head coach, his focus on creating a very humble culture and his ability to cut it at that elite level, Lancaster is, at his core, a creative, attacking coach, who actually coaches, actively developing players, rather than just preparing them for the game at the weekend.
If you think English rugby can afford to lose a person like that, you’ve not been watching.
How many great attacking-minded English coaches are there around at the moment?
Kevin Sorrell and Ali Hepher have done very well at Saracens and Exeter Chiefs, without reinventing the wheel, whilst Lee Blackett orchestrates perhaps the most electric attack in England at Wasps.
Dave Walder’s reputation is growing up at Newcastle Falcons, Paul Deacon has Sale playing well, Sam Vesty’s hire is great news for Northampton Saints and it would be interesting to see how Paul Hodgson would do with a better calibre of player at his disposal.
That’s seven in the Premiership, a competition which consists of 12 teams, whilst the England national team continue to operate without a specialised attack coach.
There are some on the outside, too, who have slipped through the net or seem to be ignored.
Brian Ashton, an arch-innovator, has been left out in the cold since 2008, Ben Ward is doing wonders at Ealing but making that leap to the Premiership is difficult to say the least and the improvements in Italy’s attacking play have Mike Catt’s fingerprints all over them.
The Wellington U16 Rugby festival is currently going on this week and several academy managers there were so enthused by the opportunity for player – and coach – development the festival provides, because, unfortunately, much of that player development ends when players progress from the U18s and move into the seniors.
At the senior level, where results matter so much and can be the difference between relegation and survival, or making it into the more lucrative Champions Cup, there is such a focus on the match at the weekend, making sure the set-piece is fine-tuned and players are physically ready for it, that actually improving players becomes much less of a priority.
Inevitably, these are areas where promising younger players will struggle to compete with experienced veterans and it can see youngsters, especially those that aren’t the immediately obvious elite-level talents, fall behind and get forgotten.
There’s a compelling case for CARDS, the coaching philosophy that permeates English age-grade rugby, to be more heavily incorporated at the post-U18 levels. It stands for creativity, awareness, resilience, decision-making and self-organisation, attributes which, at least this season, a few Premiership clubs could certainly have used a bit more of.
This should make coaches who put a premium on improving and developing players, such as Lancaster, a valuable addition to any club.
Pat Lam took a Connacht side that looked down and out and made them PRO12 champions, because he found under-the-radar prospects and players with unfulfilled potential and turned them into a wonderfully creative and cohesive unit.
Wayne Pivac has done a similar job with the Scarlets, albeit they probably had less distance to travel than Connacht did when Lam first arrived.
Saracens and Exeter coaches have done fantastic jobs and this is no slight on them, but they have very good and very expensive squads. If you look at the calibre of player and what they are being paid, you would expect trophies from both teams.
The closest the Premiership has to a story like Connacht or Scarlets in recent memory is probably the current Newcastle side, who are right in the playoff mix, despite spending less than all the teams around them in the table.
Will they win the title this season? Perhaps, and it would be a great story, but you’d be a bold man to bet against Saracens or Exeter, who now have all their internationals back and have the sole focus of Premiership glory.
Premiership teams should be busting a gut to bring Lancaster back from Ireland.
And they may need to. Who would want to leave Leinster right now? Not only are they favourites to win the Champions Cup this season, but they’re also a team with a whole host of budding stars in their early-to-mid 20’s and they look as though they will be extremely competitive for years to come.
It’s not just Lancaster senior who has been sticking it to England of late, but also his son, Dan, an U17 player for Yorkshire Carnegie.
The younger Lancaster missed out on England U18 duty this season and instead threw his lot in with Scotland, helping his new nation to a 32-27 win over England in the U18 Six Nations festival, a result which was a remarkable turnaround from England’s 64-0 win over the Scots a few weeks before.
The good news for England fans? Lancaster may well throw his lot back in with England next year, when current U18s Manu Vunipola, George Barton, Kieran Wilkinson and Tom de Glanville will all have graduated from the side and the fly-half hierarchy will be a little less congested.
The frustration is not that England aren’t competitive with the best nations in the world. They are. Their peerless resources and enviable player pool will make it very difficult for them not to be.
The frustration is that those inherent advantages that English rugby has are still not fully realised. It is not arrogance to say England should be better than Ireland, Wales and Scotland. They have the ingredients to be consistently at a higher level, but when the narrowing in rugby occurs – elite club level and international – England lose much of their advantage and it becomes a far more level playing field. This is something that doesn’t seem to affect New Zealand to anywhere near the same degree.
Bringing Lancaster back to England is not a magic cure for that, but he is the kind of coach and big picture man who can help see that age-grade advantage transition into the seniors, whether that’s as a Premiership director of rugby, head coach or attack coach, or even in a role similar to the ones Don Barrell and Dean Ryan occupy at the RFU, but with the Premiership instead.
Forget Stuart Lancaster England head coach.
Think about the possibility of Stuart Lancaster coach.
Comments on RugbyPass
Forget the 85kg bit, that can become something else. However I do like the one off test on ANZAC day idea. SR plays Fri/ Sat, test players travel Sunday and the squads have the full week together before playing Saturday. Rest of SR has a week off. Either involve women's teams in same location or in the other country and rotate annually. Herbert is right in that change is needed.
3 Go to commentsI’ve read loads of nonsense before but this article takes the cake. Or perhaps someone changed the date for April Fool's Day.
3 Go to commentsReally Rugbypass? Ben Smith I think you forgot what the Springboks did to the All Blacks at Twickenham 8 weeks earlier? Springboks 35 All Blacks 7. There is alot of ifs and buts in your article. The All Blacks threw the sink at the Springboks and unfortunately they were not good enough regardless if they played with 14 men or not. It was the Springboks who forced the All Blacks to make mistakes! Sorry but not Sorry the Springboks is the best ever Rugby World Cup Nation in the world. 4 Cups baby!
164 Go to commentsYou just backed the Boks with that fantastic review! Well done! Have some cake!
164 Go to commentsBen Smith please write up something better than this. The Springboks would have won the world cup if you were 15 men on the field. They would have found a way, they always find a way to beat the All Blacks.
164 Go to commentsWow, there is a lot of “could have” and “ should have” in this waist of time dribble. I love the deportation in this story to search for a glimpse at a silver lining. Here are the facts, NZ was a badly coached and undisciplined shadow of their former glory. They never took the lead in a game they were never going to win.
164 Go to commentsGOTTA MAKE ‘THE GEORGE’ HAPPEN!!!! That’s a great idea! A trans Tasman midget battle on ANZAC Day. I don’t think the ABs Wallabies game should be a one off winner takes all though, just the first match with the other two later in the year with the RC. Reason being, no one will ever shut up about how aussies couldn’t win it when it was a 3 match series.
3 Go to comments@Ben smith. Thats knock out rugby. So honeslty who cares?
164 Go to commentsIt will interesting to know which Irish players said that…
1 Go to commentsNaaaww boys will be boys! Now run along ya wee scamp! Don’t let us catch you at again😏
1 Go to commentsGreat to have Ethan Blackadder back in the Crusaders in the last few weeks. One of the best all round loose forwards around. He played so well last week against the Rebels. Fantastic attitude Ethan has and his comments are spot on.
2 Go to commentsThe author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
164 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
164 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
164 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
164 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
164 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
164 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
164 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
164 Go to comments