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
Anna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to comments