BRISTOL WHIPPED
Connacht rocked by Lam’s defection to Prem strugglers & Lancaster rules himself out as new boss in the West
STUART LANCASTER has distanced himself from the Connacht hotseat after revealing his desire to remain as senior Leinster coach next year.
The former England boss was immediately linked with the Westerners’ head coach role after Pat Lam dropped the bombshell that he will be leaving the Pro12 champions for English Premiership strugglers Bristol in May.
The announcement came out of the blue to Connacht’s players, with Lam informing them yesterday morning having already given the bad news to the province’s decision makers over the weekend. Star centre Bundee Aki, 26, even took to Twitter to simply post: “Really p ***** .”
Kiwi Aki only recently signed a contract extension with the province despite big interest from Munster. Clearly he is unhappy that fellow Auckland man Lam, who has exerted such a massive influence on Connacht, is heading for the exit door and a reported €750,000-a-year contract.
Top Irish coaches such as Grenoble’s Bernard Jackman and Racing Metro’s Ronan O’gara could be contenders to replace Lam along with Connacht’s well-regarded academy director Nigel Carolan.
Lancaster (inset) will be on the wishlist but he has confided that he would like to remain in Dublin.
“I’m keen to continue on what I’m doing here,” he confirmed. “We will see how it plays out.
“We have yet to have those conversations because for me the focus is just about the here and now.
“I learned a while ago that you operate on a day-to-day basis in this business now. My focus is firmly on today and getting this team ready to play Northampton on
Friday because it is a big two games for us coming up.”
Connacht’s preparation for their
Champions Cup assignment at highflying Wasps on Sunday will obviously be affected by the news of Lam’s imminent move cross-channel.
The 48-year-old also held talks with Northampton before deciding to join Bristol, who are on course for relegation after 10 defeats from their opening 10 fixtures.
Coincidentally Lancaster was also linked with a role at Bristol but yesterday denied he had spoken with the club.
But the dramatic improvement that Lam has inspired at Connacht even saw him tipped to succeed Joe Schmidt in the Ireland post.
“This has been one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make in my life as Connacht and Galway is such a special place for myself and my family,” said Lam. “Rugby should never be about the individual as players and coaches will always come and go.
“We’ve worked hard to have the structures and systems in place to ensure the future success of the province.
“I truly believe that through our strategic plan and the vision of ‘Grassroots to Green Shirts’, Connacht Rugby is in an extremely strong place.
“We’re heading in to Champions Cup rugby on the back of so much hard work over the last number of years.” Lancaster knows the set-up at Bristol well and, despite the fact they are bottom of England’s top tier, he claims it is a club with solid foundations.
“I’ve been in the position that Bristol are in, you get promoted to the Premiership on the final game and are trying to recruit and become competitive but all the talent has been signed up,” he said.
“It’s very difficult to make that step but Bristol have got more and more competitive. I know Jordan Crane really well, the captain. I used to coach him in my academy and I texted him the other day. He says the players are still tight.
“So Pat’s walking into a good set-up. He’s got a chance to build something that can be sustainable in the short-term and the long-term – that’s what Pat has obviously done at Connacht. He seems a great fit.”