Stuart Lancaster joining Leinster

[Kinger83]

Former England head coach Stuart Lancaster has joined the coaching staff of PRO12 giants Leinster.

Lancaster will work under Leinster head coach Leo Cullen as a senior coach in his first full-time role since stepping down as England boss last year.

Cullen said: "The sad departure of Kurt McQuilkin due to family reasons has brought about an opportunity to bring in somebody new to the Leinster coaching team.

"Stuart brings a wealth of experience and is a highly respected figure in world rugby. We are all looking forward to having Stuart join our team and together helping the players maximise their potential as a group."

Leinster CEO Mick Dawson confirmed that former England head coach Lancaster would join the Leinster coaching team as a senior coach with immediate effect until the end of the season.

Commenting on the appointment Dawson said: "We are always looking at options around resources but once we were made aware of Kurt McQuilkin's departure, we narrowed our focus and we are delighted that Stuart has agreed to come on board.

"I know, having spoken at length to Stuart, that he is excited by the challenge of getting into club rugby again and the day to day interaction with players. His first session with Leo, Girvan, John and the players will be later on this afternoon.

"We welcome Stuart to the club. I think our supporters are going to be excited by this announcement and we wish him all the very best for the season ahead."

Lancaster, 46, is a former Leeds Tykes player and played representative rugby with Scotland at age grade level. Having been forced to retire due to injury at the age of 30, the qualified teacher moved into coaching and had roles with the Leeds Academy and Leeds Carnegie before being appointed as the RFU's Head of Elite Player Development in 2008 which included coaching the England Saxons.

He was appointed to the role of England head coach in 2011 and led the team through four Six Nations campaigns.

Since leaving his position with the English team in 2015, Lancaster has had short-term roles with the Atlanta Falcons, with British Cycling's world-class performance programme, with the English FA and most recently with Counties Manukau in the Mitre 10 Cup in New Zealand.

http://www.planetrugby.com/news/lancast ... ing-staff/

[blockhead]

"WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW. UNBELIEVABLE!" KB

[Dave Cahill]

Super happy with that.

[Blue Voodoo]

Something had to happen with Kurt leaving

Given how hard it is to get high calibre coaches this feels like a good move

[arsebiscuits1]

Massive coup! Very impressed with Leinster and/or IRFU for getting that one in.

Can't wait for the still bitter English to warn us of the tough times ahead.

If he is good enough to sustain a HC role in international rugby he is good enough for Leinster.

He is the exact experience that we have been crying out for.

I wonder what this means for Leo, has he been recruited with the DOR role in mind?

[LeinsterLeader]

Super happy with that.

In What sort of capacity do you think he would come in Dave? Has he the abilities to be a defence coach ala Kurt?

[Dave Cahill]

Super happy with that.

In What sort of capacity do you think he would come in Dave? Has he the abilities to be a defence coach ala Kurt?

I'd say he'll manage defense and skills and tie in with Girve working with the backs.

[Oldschool]

This is a great signing.
Lancaster has integrity and even more importantly he is a technical coach and a very good one at that.

[molloyjh]

Two minds on this.

On the one hand he has all the experience we are lacking and from that perspective is a great appointment. He brought a really good culture to the English side as well so his ability to manage players at the highest level is another positive. Leo and the rest of the coaching team could certainly learn a lot from him.

On the other hand I do wonder exactly how the roles will be defined. He's clearly there to mentor the existing coaches, but how will that work in practice if he has a hands on role as well? Will that muddy waters a bit and how will it impact how we are looking to play at the moment? A strong voice coming in for pre-season is one thing. A strong voice coming in after pre-season when we are in the middle of trying to bed down a new style of playing is another.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Big fan of him as a person and very happy to have him on board (would not want him as a head coach though). I'm struggling to see what his role will actually be (you'd imagine defence but obviously Farrell was the English defence coach) but still seems like a hugely positive move.

I know our hand was forced somewhat by Kurt leaving but I do wonder what Henry said we were lacking.

[Flash Gordon]

Super happy with that.

In What sort of capacity do you think he would come in Dave? Has he the abilities to be a defence coach ala Kurt?

I'd say he'll manage defense and skills and tie in with Girve working with the backs.

England were fairly easy to play against when he was coach - not sure but didn't Farrell take defence with England? In my mind he underachieved with England and what Eddie Jones has done with England after he left highlights a fairly mediocre tenure that saw him fail in the 6 Nations and in the World Cup. His one year in the premiership saw Leeds get relegated too.

Not sure what to make of this one to be honest.

[Dave Cahill]

They can't have been that easy to play against, we only ever beat them once under him.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

They can't have been that easy to play against, we only ever beat them once under him.

Yeah I thought they were incredibly hard to play against. He made mistakes but that was a constant. He had the players to do it though, very different to our squad.

The more I think about it, the more it concerns me that they didn't even define his role in the press release. Do still feel like it's good news though.

[molloyjh]

They can't have been that easy to play against, we only ever beat them once under him.

Yeah I thought they were incredibly hard to play against. He made mistakes but that was a constant. He had the players to do it though, very different to our squad.

The more I think about it, the more it concerns me that they didn't even define his role in the press release. Do still feel like it's good news though.

They beat NZ under him, which is more than we've done ever. Even under St Joe.

I'm assuming he's basically going to be Graham Henry Mk II. He'll be there to help guide the coaches. I didn't think he was a defence coach though so I'd be a bit concerned on that front.

[Flash Gordon]

They can't have been that easy to play against, we only ever beat them once under him.

Take your point but I always thought they were fairly predictable and seemed to prioritise discipline over creativity. Their 19-9 loss to us at Lansdowne Road being a case in point - I thought we were pretty comfortable and didn't feel nervous at all during the game as I thought we were in complete control defensively. Either way, 4 years without winning the 6 Nations and a first round exit in the World Cup is unacceptable for a team like England and Eddie Jones impact since coming is in stark contrast though arguably Ireland were not the team we were in the last 6 nations.

[domhnallj]

They can't have been that easy to play against, we only ever beat them once under him.

Take your point but I always thought they were fairly predictable and seemed to prioritise discipline over creativity. Their 19-9 loss to us at Lansdowne Road being a case in point - I thought we were pretty comfortable and didn't feel nervous at all during the game as I thought we were in complete control defensively. Either way, 4 years without winning the 6 Nations and a first round exit in the World Cup is unacceptable for a team like England and Eddie Jones impact since coming is in stark contrast though arguably Ireland were not the team we were in the last 6 nations.

Yeah but wasn't there talk of Farrell undermining him when they were at England? I think he brings a lot of experience to the team but I am in wait-and-see mode as to what his role will be. Highly intrigued by this move.

[Flash Gordon]

They can't have been that easy to play against, we only ever beat them once under him.

Yeah I thought they were incredibly hard to play against. He made mistakes but that was a constant. He had the players to do it though, very different to our squad.

The more I think about it, the more it concerns me that they didn't even define his role in the press release. Do still feel like it's good news though.

They beat NZ under him, which is more than we've done ever. Even under St Joe.

I'm assuming he's basically going to be Graham Henry Mk II. He'll be there to help guide the coaches. I didn't think he was a defence coach though so I'd be a bit concerned on that front.

And lost 5 times to New Zealand after that. Still not clear on his role, I think Farrell lead defence for England so what's Lancaster doing as "senior coach"?

[simonokeeffe]

Sky & BT's rugby producers have just wee'd their pants

I think the emphasis on discipline, integrity, culture will be a better fit here than England if even in his remit/applicable. Eddie Jones has shown the mistakes Lancaster made but to some extent Jones benefitted from them. Catt was backs/attack wasnt he?

Also Irish rugby media a lot easier than English and he'll ve under a lot less pressure here

[Flash Gordon]

Sky & BT's rugby producers have just wee'd their pants

I think the emphasis on discipline, integrity, culture will be a better fit here than England if even in his remit/applicable. Eddie Jones has shown the mistakes Lancaster made but to some extent Jones benefitted from them. Catt was backs/attack wasnt he?

Also Irish rugby media a lot easier than English and he'll ve under a lot less pressure here

Yeah, don't think Leinster has a culture problem though - England certainly did and in fairness, they probably needed more discipline. Think Farrell was defence coach.

If you look at Leinster's coaching successes - Cheika, Knox, Joe - they all brought something different to what we had. I don't really see what Lancaster is bringing that will bring us to the the next level/help us bear the likes of Toulon, Sarries etc.

[awol]

Cautiously optimistic on this one.
Pro's:
I think it is a decent coup, coaches with that experience are hard to come by, and he should definitely have something to offer.

Unlike say Munster, I would guess that Leinster management are smart enough to have done this without undermining Leo. I'd guess there is definitely some form of agreement in place to have them function as a team. Lancaster also seems like a fella that would be ok working on a team, but that could just be my reading of the media stuff.

He did 'some' pretty decent work with England. I didn't think they were in a great place before he took over, and whilst they did underperform he left the team in better shape than he found it.

Cons:
Did we get him because he's the only guy available aside from Eddie O Sullivan????

Have we just fatally undermined Leo and don't know about it?

England were muck under him sometimes and did underperform. World Cup.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say I think its a good move. Hopefully he'll prove me right, and glad to see Leo getting some backup that has real experience, without a demotion, it would appear!