Suddenly facing into the last week of his stay with Leinster after their URC hopes were extinguished by last Saturday’s semi-final loss to Munster, Stuart Lancaster has reiterated his desire to one day return to the province, but even more strongly than he has intimated previously.
In giving his last Monday media briefing as Leinster’s senior coach, Lancaster said he didn’t believe the result of next Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup final, a game for which James Lowe has been passed fit, will define him.
“I think ultimately what defines you really is your integrity and your values and your ability to build relationships, and get on with people and develop people. That’s what I’ve tried to do while I’ve been here,” he said, noting how many variables a coach cannot control on match day.
“So, it’s trying not to hold on too tight to the outcome really, and then making sure I enjoy the last week here. The last thing I want to do is be consumed by the result. I want to enjoy the occasion, enjoy the week, enjoy what happens at the end, but then look back as a brilliant period in my career, and hopefully not the last time I’m back.
“And I do genuinely mean that. I would like to come back.”
Nor did he mean for a weekend city break.
“Definitely to coach. Yeah, definitely. It definitely feels like a big step to leave for me, personally,” he added of his upcoming move to Racing 92. “But it’s one I feel I’m ready for and ultimately in four years’ time or however long it lasts, I think I’ll be a better coach on the back of that and you look at the great football managers or the great American Football coaches, when they’re at their best is when they’re in their late 50s, their 60s, I think.
“So hopefully I still have a bit to go before I achieve that, and Ireland will always be a place I’d love to come back to, definitely.”
If the Racing 92 job is now starting to seem more challenging the closer it looms in to view, this rugby coaching lark remains a very unpredictable career path. After all, Lancaster began his tenure as English head coach with a four-year contract and had designs on a second term, which didn’t materialise, before subsequently signing a one-year contract with Leinster only to stay seven.
“It’s been brilliant really, from start to finish. I’ve really enjoyed watching the evolution of the players, some of whom were 18 at the time. I’ve watched lads go from academy to international players and British and Irish Lions; lads going from single, to being married, to having babies.
“It’s a long time, seven years, and it’s a lot of training sessions, a lot of meetings, a lot of standing in front and trying to inspire and motivate, particularly in a club environment,” he added, noting the contrast with Test rugby, while expressing the belief that group is in a decent place.
Lancaster also revealed that he hasn’t had a TV for the last seven years, and when finished watching rugby on his laptop is an avid reader of books, hundreds of which have been given to the Rathmines library with favourites brought back to Leeds.
“Now the flat is looking pretty empty because there is only a week left.”
While aware of this being his final week, he’s keeping it in the recesses of his mind. “I’m a miles better coach now,” he admitted, after his time with Leinster. “But at the same time I’ve always tried to give back as well. What I’ve learned I’ve tried to pass back to within the system in Leinster.”
Lessons have also been learned, which Lancaster has written down in a journal. It now numbers 189, relating back to previous Champions Cup final defeats by Saracens and La Rochelle a year ago, as well as “very, very relevant” ones from last Saturday’s loss.
Leinster will also draw “confidence and belief” from good deeds in the past and this season.
“You learn lessons all the time but you can’t be constantly looking back, otherwise you’ll never see what’s coming at you.”
He credits Ronan O’Gara for making a “world-class” La Rochelle squad from one to 23 into a formidable team on both sides of the ball.
“Defensively they’re very strong and they’ve got aggressive line speed, are competitive at the breakdown and in attack they have the capacity, because of the size of the forwards, to play a tight game, but also a game with width because they have power and pace in the backline.
“If you were going to pick your dream backline to recruit, you’d have power, pace and footballers, and La Rochelle have all three. So, they’re a very complete team and really well-organised on both sides of the ball. Teams generally tend to be strong on one or the other, but they’re strong on both.”
As to whether the Munster loss clarifies this week’s task or heightens the pressure, Lancaster said: “The goal for the season is to win the double and it’s bloody hard to do.
“La Rochelle lost the quarter-final of the Top 14 to Toulouse [in 2021-22], the best teams in France, who lost the semi-finals last year, so it’s unbelievably hard to do.
“It narrows the focus, for sure. It was always do-or-die, but it’s definitely do-or-die now.”
And with that he went back to his increasingly empty flat to finalise plans one last time for a day renamed in his honour. ‘Stuesday’.
