Lancaster opens door for Farrell reunion
Incoming Ireland coach ‘right man for the job’ Former England pair to talk over future ‘soon’
Stuart Lancaster has left the door open for a reunion with Andy Farrell at Ireland, saying he is sure the pair will “have a conversation soon” about the latter’s coaching team.
The Irish Rugby Football Union recently confirmed that Farrell would take over from Joe Schmidt after next year’s World Cup, stepping up from his role as defence coach. Lancaster described his former assistant as “the right man” for the job.
But the IRFU did not provide any detail as to who the Englishman might bring in to work alongside him. That has led to speculation that Farrell might approach his former boss Lancaster. The pair worked together for four years at England until Lancaster resigned following England’s failure to progress from their group in the 2015 World Cup.
Farrell subsequently left as part of the shake-up after Eddie Jones’s appointment.
Both have successfully reinvented themselves across the Irish Sea, Farrell as the defensive mastermind behind Ireland’s rise up the world rankings, and Lancaster as senior coach at European champions Leinster.
And while Lancaster said he was “very happy” at his province, with “talks ongoing” over a new contract, he admitted his family situation, which means he commutes from Leeds to Dublin every week, was not ideal.
“There’s definitely talks ongoing,” Lancaster said of Leinster. “I’m happy with where I’m at. The family situation works. It’s not ideal and I’ve said that consistently, that flying backwards and forwards … my daughter’s just gone to university and my son is a year away from going to university. I occasionally see my wife. But, yeah, I’m certainly happy with Leinster, but we’ll see how it all plays out.”
England, Ireland and Bath have all been mentioned as possible alternatives for Lancaster. And asked about the possibility of teaming up with Farrell again, Lancaster said: “It’s up to Andy to build his coaching team. I’ve not caught up with him since the announcement. I will do soon, I’m sure, and it will be up to him to shape that. I’ll have that conversation with him.
“He’s the right man for the job in my opinion. I think that when Joe announced he was going there was only one person I felt was qualified to do the job and that was Andy. He’s sat as an assistant coach for eight years now, four with me and four with Joe.”
He added: “I enjoy club coaching, the day-to-day stuff. For me it is all about the role that I would do that would give me the best opportunity to keep developing as a leader.”
Lancaster said he had not given much thought to a return as England coach, despite recent comments by Nigel Melville, the Rugby Football Union interim chief executive, that it would be open to talking to him.
“I think they suggested that every coach in world rugby is of interest, I don’t think it’s narrowed down to me,” Lancaster said. “I think that was the way it was described, but I think Nigel Melville said they’d be happy to talk to any coach and I’d fall into that category.”