Lancaster set to leave

[mildlyinterested]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/ ... xt-season/

[Ruckedtobits]

I concur with the summary at the end that the loss of Contepomi, Dawson, Lancaster and Leamy will have a significant cumulative effect. Leo will now have an even bigger challenge.

[FLIP]

The move doesn't make much sense to me. Coaching a team of overpaid underachieving primadonnas would seem to me like a repeat of the England job.

But maybe he wants to do it and succeed - best of luck to him, as long as it's not against us!

[backrower8]

I concur with the summary at the end that the loss of Contepomi, Dawson, Lancaster and Leamy will have a significant cumulative effect. Leo will now have an even bigger challenge.

+1

Thornley's words are worth sharing:

True, every rugby team needs an injection of fresh voices and thinking. Even so, the departure of Contepomi, Leamy and now Lancaster, as well as Sexton, in a 12-month period – not to mention Mick Dawson moving on in November after 21 years as Leinster chief executive, and something of an overhaul last summer following the departure or retirement of nine players – the Leinster machine is evidently facing its most challenging time since the arrival of Cheika in 2005, if not bigger.

Lancaster has been a very good coaching 'servant' for Leinster - coming in behind just Joe and Chaiks as the best coaches we have had. That said, after 7 years and just one Champions Cup, repeatedly losing to the same tactics, it is past time for a change at the top of the tree, meaning the roles Leo and Stu hold.

[wixfjord]

Will be a huge shame to see him go, but it does feel like end of cycle also.

Him giving basically a full season of notice will be helpful too. Lots of time to lock in a brilliant replacement.

Hopefully we can get him a second star before he leaves.

Having Leo there as continuity is absolutely vital, given the change directly above and below him.

[hugonaut]

I concur with the summary at the end that the loss of Contepomi, Dawson, Lancaster and Leamy will have a significant cumulative effect. Leo will now have an even bigger challenge.

+1

Thornley's words are worth sharing:

True, every rugby team needs an injection of fresh voices and thinking. Even so, the departure of Contepomi, Leamy and now Lancaster, as well as Sexton, in a 12-month period – not to mention Mick Dawson moving on in November after 21 years as Leinster chief executive, and something of an overhaul last summer following the departure or retirement of nine players – the Leinster machine is evidently facing its most challenging time since the arrival of Cheika in 2005, if not bigger.

Lancaster has been a very good coaching 'servant' for Leinster - coming in behind just Joe and Chaiks as the best coaches we have had. That said, after 7 years and just one Champions Cup, repeatedly losing to the same tactics, it is past time for a change at the top of the tree, meaning the roles Leo and Stu hold.

For the sake of clarity: you think that if Lancaster goes Leinster should sack Leo Cullen as well?

[alanair]

The move doesn't make much sense to me. Coaching a team of overpaid underachieving primadonnas would seem to me like a repeat of the England job.

But maybe he wants to do it and succeed - best of luck to him, as long as it's not against us!

Hes not getting any younger - good opportunity for one last big salary - cant blame him - hes been brilliant for us - goid luck to him

[wixfjord]

The move doesn't make much sense to me. Coaching a team of overpaid underachieving primadonnas would seem to me like a repeat of the England job.

But maybe he wants to do it and succeed - best of luck to him, as long as it's not against us!

A plum job as head coach of a club with huge funding (rumoured to be signing Beauden Barrett post RWC) playing in a stadium designed for expressive rugby in one of the best cities in the world earning massive coin.

Nah, no idea why he'd want to take that job...!

[OTT]

If he goes at he will be missed massively, he really embraced the Leinster and Irish model. He relished bringing through the young lads and talked up the games where we were missing so many internationals instead of making excuses like so many provincial coaches through the years. Tough job to replace him.

[Logorrhea]

Leo's just on that rolling 1 year contract too.

On the positive side, it will be post world cup, there could be a few decent coaches available, and its got to remain an attractive job.

We should approach Dai Young

[Flash Gordon]

Very challenging for Leo but maybe that's the challenge he needs rather than going somewhere else. He has a chance to do a "Ferguson" and rotate a top class coaching team with another. If he were to go we might be in a bit of trouble given that we would have lost our head coach, a team of coaches and a rugby CEO. The new guy from Google would not be in an area of strength.

In terms of our return, we have actually done pretty well during his spell with Leinster and the reasons we didn't win more - physicality up front for example, were not really his remit.

[blockhead]

The move doesn't make much sense to me. Coaching a team of overpaid underachieving primadonnas would seem to me like a repeat of the England job.

But maybe he wants to do it and succeed - best of luck to him, as long as it's not against us!

A plum job as head coach of a club with huge funding (rumoured to be signing Beauden Barrett post RWC) playing in a stadium designed for expressive rugby in one of the best cities in the world earning massive coin.

Nah, no idea why he'd want to take that job...!

Anyone who leaves Leinster is taking a step down. Ourselves and Toulouse are the biggest and most successful clubs in European rugby, by quite a distance too.
Having said that, it's probably time to move on, eventually the impact of a coach wanes. And I'd imagine he will be well paid. He's cashing in on the great work he did/does here.

[Keith]

I concur with the summary at the end that the loss of Contepomi, Dawson, Lancaster and Leamy will have a significant cumulative effect. Leo will now have an even bigger challenge.

+1

Thornley's words are worth sharing:

True, every rugby team needs an injection of fresh voices and thinking. Even so, the departure of Contepomi, Leamy and now Lancaster, as well as Sexton, in a 12-month period – not to mention Mick Dawson moving on in November after 21 years as Leinster chief executive, and something of an overhaul last summer following the departure or retirement of nine players – the Leinster machine is evidently facing its most challenging time since the arrival of Cheika in 2005, if not bigger.

Lancaster has been a very good coaching 'servant' for Leinster - coming in behind just Joe and Chaiks as the best coaches we have had. That said, after 7 years and just one Champions Cup, repeatedly losing to the same tactics, it is past time for a change at the top of the tree, meaning the roles Leo and Stu hold.

For the sake of clarity: you think that if Lancaster goes Leinster should sack Leo Cullen as well?

I'd persume Leo will also move on soon (hopefully he doesn't). I predict a bit of a slump for Leinster after this season with players and coaches moving on and our squad getting continually raided by the other provinces. Swings and roundabouts and all that.

[Oldschoolsocks]

The move doesn't make much sense to me. Coaching a team of overpaid underachieving primadonnas would seem to me like a repeat of the England job.

But maybe he wants to do it and succeed - best of luck to him, as long as it's not against us!

Hard to see the french buying into sTuesdays

[wixfjord]

The move doesn't make much sense to me. Coaching a team of overpaid underachieving primadonnas would seem to me like a repeat of the England job.

But maybe he wants to do it and succeed - best of luck to him, as long as it's not against us!

A plum job as head coach of a club with huge funding (rumoured to be signing Beauden Barrett post RWC) playing in a stadium designed for expressive rugby in one of the best cities in the world earning massive coin.

Nah, no idea why he'd want to take that job...!

Anyone who leaves Leinster is taking a step down. Ourselves and Toulouse are the biggest and most successful clubs in European rugby, by quite a distance too.
Having said that, it's probably time to move on, eventually the impact of a coach wanes. And I'd imagine he will be well paid. He's cashing in on the great work he did/does here.

Taking a step up to a head coaching role in a team with a bigger budget in a bigger league clearly isn't a step down. Let's not be naive.

Lancaster may want to go to somewhere where he's calling the shots and he's also not being mandated to by a national body too.

Plus Racing have some fantastic young players like Le Garrec, Taofifénua, Woki, Spring for him to work with.

That's besides the galaxy of starts they're probably looking to bring in post RWC.

It's obviously a juicy role.

There's nothing really similar in the URC or Prem and probably only 3-4 similar roles in France.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

The move doesn't make much sense to me. Coaching a team of overpaid underachieving primadonnas would seem to me like a repeat of the England job.

But maybe he wants to do it and succeed - best of luck to him, as long as it's not against us!

Hard to see the french buying into sTuesdays

Well they’d need to move to Landis for a start…

I’ll be gutted to see him go. Just apart from anything else he’s a great bloke, love his attitude towards growing the players as people and unlike 99% of players and coaches he always offers something interesting in interviews.

Excited to see who replaces him though, I think the time is right for a change. That’s no reflection on him, just the nature of sport that change at the top is a good thing after a while, as long as we don’t mess it up of course.

[Blue Man]

It was a great relationship that worked well for both parties. I wish Stu all the best for the future but nobody is irreplaceable.
Leinster has invest heavily in top class coaches and I’m excited to see who’s next. I’d love to see an innovative coach like Tony Brown or Aaron Mauger come in.

[Blueberry]

Fair play to Stu, a good move for him, big pay cheque, Paris life and a new challenge, best of luck and see if you can grab us a star before you leave. Definitely a challenging time coming with all of the changes happening and those to come with Stu and J10 going soon but onwards and upwards !!

[suisse]

The move doesn't make much sense to me. Coaching a team of overpaid underachieving primadonnas would seem to me like a repeat of the England job.

But maybe he wants to do it and succeed - best of luck to him, as long as it's not against us!

A plum job as head coach of a club with huge funding (rumoured to be signing Beauden Barrett post RWC) playing in a stadium designed for expressive rugby in one of the best cities in the world earning massive coin.

Nah, no idea why he'd want to take that job...!

Anyone who leaves Leinster is taking a step down. Ourselves and Toulouse are the biggest and most successful clubs in European rugby, by quite a distance too.
Having said that, it's probably time to move on, eventually the impact of a coach wanes. And I'd imagine he will be well paid. He's cashing in on the great work he did/does here.

Really really hard to agree with this. We know Leinster are not really a club. They can't just go out and sign whoever they like and playing time is determined by the national team selectors. Lancaster has to sit back and accept a dozen players will be taken away and sent off to South Africa for a few weeks.

It is highly possible many other coaches would consider Racing a more attractive prospect. Added to that, a much better league, not flying to the southern hemisphere for club games in front of 3000 people, better attendances, a much better rugby culture, competing against clubs with real history and tradition, pitting your players against much better better players and some great coaches.

Racing is a great move.

[blockhead]

We are at the very top of the European tree, with one of two others. A move from us is to step out of the elite and into a lower level, with lower expectations.
Racing have won one trophy this century, if they win one with Lancaster he'll be a messiah to them.
With Leinster, lets face it, its a major disapointment if we don't do the double. That's the difference, that's why it's a step down.
And as for he Top14, I've watched it, its a shocking sack of sh!t, dull as double irish on a monday morning. Yeah it has loads of fans, its a very old and established competition.