Lancaster has f lak jacket on
STUART LANCASTER has predicted a bounce in Europe this weekend for English clubs on the back of the national side’s successful autumn campaign – which could have consequences for his Leinster side.
With the pain of his own departure from England a year ago having subsided, Lancaster watched on from across the Irish Sea with something approaching paternal pride as his former charges swept all before them at Twickenham.
Now, though, he is concerned the feel-good factor which he expects England’s returning Test players to spread around their clubs could impact on his province’s ambitions.
Leinster face Northampton, strengthened by the return of four England forwards, twice in the space of a week, starting tonight at Franklin’s Gardens.
“It’ll be a lift for all the English teams,” said Lancaster. “It’s a challenge – when you look at the intensity of the match against Australia and then having to turn that around back at the clubs is tough – but the boys are on the back of a four-game winning series and they’ll come back brimming with confidence and a belief in their own ability because of what they’ve achieved.
“The Ireland players came back into camp a week earlier off the back of beating Australia and you could see the lift and it will be the same for Northampton.”
While Leicester will rest Dan Cole because of a lacerated thigh tomorrow against Munster, the vast majority of the England squad will go straight back into action for their clubs. REPORTS Northampton, whose former backs coach Alex King looks set for a role with Wales in the Six Nations, have named all four of their forwards involved against Australia, although Dylan Hartley and Teimana Harrison will start on the bench.
It has been a difficult week for Saints with the scrutiny over the George North case – they will find out today if they are to
CHAMPIONS CUP FIXTURES
Ulster v Clermont, 1pm Munster v Leicester, 3.15pm Racing 92 v Glasgow, 4.15pm Saracens v Sale, 5.30pm Zebre v Toulouse, 8.45pm Wasps v Connacht, 1pm Montpellier v Castres, 2pm Toulon v Scarlets, 4.15pm Exeter v Bordeaux, 5.30pm be sanctioned – but Lancaster is expecting a defiant showing. “I know Northampton well and how good a team they are. They have Wood, Hartley, Lawes and Harrison coming back and it will be a tough challenge,” he said.
After last season’s AngloFrench duopoly of Europe’s knockout stages, the tournament badly needs a Celtic presence in the quarterfinals this time. In his three months with the province, Lancaster has gained a perspective on the relative merits of the Premiership and the Pro12 and while his conclusion is the English league is deeper, the leading Pro12 sides like his own are comparable. It is a blow though for Leinster that they will be without Lions stand-off Johnny Sexton tonight.
It will be Lancaster’s first game back in England since joining Leinster and it will be interesting to hear the reception he receives given the controversy that surrounded his exclusion of Saints centre Luther Burrell from the World Cup squad.
That tournament failure ended his reign as national coach, leaving the squad he had painstakingly nurtured for four years to be bequeathed to Eddie Jones. If there was frustration at having to hand on his project, there is nothing but admiration for what the Australian has done with it since.
“We finished the World Cup in hugely disappointing fashion but I sat down with Eddie not long after I lost the role and Eddie came in. I said to him, ‘I think there’s a good squad here.’
“I always said the new phase of England rugby would be successful but nothing happens by chance and the coaches, and in particular Eddie, deserve the credit for that.”
With his wife and two teenage children still in Yorkshire, Lancaster lives the life of the itinerant coach with most of his time spent in Dublin but with weekly hops back to Leeds. The balancing act is working though for all parties, with Leinster keen to extend his contract beyond the end of this season. “I do enjoy being back coaching hands-on again but we’ll see,” he said. “I’m pretty open-minded about the future. It’s been a great move to come back into a top-end European club with great players but I’ve learned now not to plan too far ahead.”