Leinster could unravel without Lancaster...he’s been that good
HIS arrival begat a renaissance. His departure threatens an unravelling. But one wonders if the significance of Stuart Lancaster’s next career decision is fully appreciated. This season looked like a decisive one for the province, given the profile of pivotal players, limited access to them ahead of the World Cup, and the persistent difficulties presented by physically powerful opponents in Europe over the past four years.
Now, the season could prove a farewell to the good times.
Lancaster is that important. No, he was that important. Replacing him looks a daunting job.
But even if another coach of that calibre can be found, it may not be enough on its own to keep Leinster involved on the game’s biggest days.
This feels like the end of something.
That is easier to appreciate if Lancaster’s place in the Leinster order is understood.
He joined in September 2016, and his arrival was testament to the willingness of Leo Cullen to seek expertise.
Cullen had taken over when Matt O’Connor’s unimpressive spell in charge was ended after two seasons, but he struggled in his first term, in 2015/16.
Leinster were beaten by Connacht in the final of the Pro12, and they failed to get out of their European pool, losing five of their six matches.
They played a prescriptive style that relied heavily on set-piece proficiency, but they lacked quality and invention.
One farsighted call made by Cullen in that season came in a European fixture in the RDS, in January 2016.
Hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages was long gone, and so in a fixture against Bath, he gave full European debuts to six players, including Luke McGrath, Garry Ringrose, Tadhg Furlong and James Tracy. Ambitions for the coming generation were robust, even in the midst of the difficulties endured that season and in the two previous ones.
But tending them required expertise, and Cullen acknowledged that more of it was needed within his set-up.
Sources at the time insisted the identification and pursuit of Lancaster were Cullen’s idea, and Johnny Sexton later revealed he was consulted, too. ‘Leo had been talking to him and I had spoken to a few of the English boys, spoke to the Farrells about him really,’ Sexton recalled.
‘They spoke very highly of him and it was something we needed at the time, someone to come in and help, and he has been brilliant since he has come in.’
Sexton credited Lancaster with developing the team’s running and off-loading skills. ‘Stuart has had a great influence on us and the whole organisation, and it is a great place to be again,’ said Sexton.
That was a highly significant, coming from the most influential figure in the squad, and one of the most important figures in the entire organisation.
Lancaster provided an outline of the division of labour in an introductory interview following his appointment, and it remains the most detailed breakdown of how the coaching team works.
Some of the names have changed, but Cullen and Lancaster remained the centre points.
‘Essentially, Leo does the selection,’ said Lancaster. ‘It’s his final call, as with any head coach. The week and how it’s structured is all his responsibility.
‘I look after our defence from set-piece and thereafter, and our attack from phase play. John Fogarty looks at the scrum and Girvan Dempsey looks after back attack from set-piece, but I would do the overall framework.’
Leinster are on their second attack coach since Dempsey, with Andrew Goodman replacing Felipe Contepomi.
Fogarty is long since departed on Ireland duty. By the end of Lancaster’s second season, Leinster were European champions, and it was easy to leave Bilbao that day convinced this was only the start, and that this group would surpass the success harvested under Joe Schmidt in 2011 and 2012.
That didn’t happen, partly because of the pandemic but more because Leinster could not figure a way around the competition’s physical bullies, first Saracens and latterly La Rochelle.
Finding a solution looked like the defining challenge for this season, but now the campaign threatens to become one long goodbye.
This is the end of a period that delivered a lot but promised even more.
An ending implies that there will eventually be a new beginning, too. Goodman is highly regarded, and it would be no surprise to see Sexton move from playing to coaching as naturally as Cullen did.
But the short-term job of mustering one last tilt at Europe has become even more difficult.
And the longer-term outlook is clouded again.
Stuart Lancaster was that important. He was that good.