‘One of the very best’ – Bath boss Johann van Graan praises ex-England coach

Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan praised his opposing coach, Stuart Lancaster, ahead of his side’s Champions Cup clash against Racing 92 this weekend.

The competition resumes after the Christmas break, as Pool 2 joint leaders Bath host the classy French outfit Racing 92 down at The Rec.

The clash marks a reunion of two former international coaching friends who share a great respect for each other as head coaches of their respective teams.

Bath’s Van Graan spoke with Planet Rugby’s James While on his admiration and long-running friendship with Racing 92‘s Stuart Lancaster as two great technical innovators go head to head in the third round.

Test Rivals

“Stuart and I go back a long time,” van Graan commented.

“The first test series that I was involved in was versus England in that 2012 series when he was the head coach of England, and at the time, I was a technical consultant with the Springboks, and we became very good friends.

“We met up before and after the test matches, and it was as a result of our conversations I appointed Graham Rowntree (at Munster) and got to know Andy Farrell too. That’s how rugby works – all about the relationships.

“And of course, in 2017 Stuart went to Leinster whilst I was at Munster, and he added a massive amount to their rugby, and now he’s doing similar things at Racing, and I have the utmost respect for him.”

“He’s been a national coach, and he went through an incredible disappointment in 2015, the same World Cup that I was fortunate enough to be involved with and if you want to see a story of personal resilience, you’ve just got to look at Stuart and what he’s gone through; how he’s rebuilt his career and reputation. I’d say he’s one of the very best coaches in the game and it will be a pleasure to see him again this Sunday,” van Graan admired.

“If you watch Racing at their home ground (at La Defense), they do some fascinating things because it’s indoor, the ball is always dry, and they are able to apply an incredible amount of speed as a result.

“I’d say the biggest thing is that I’ve got admiration for is the power that they have and how they get gainline dominance. You’ve got to make sure that you stop them at source because once they get momentum, they are pretty difficult to deal with. They’ve got good balance in the game, and you know, I think what Stuart has brought to them is real structure. You can see that there’s a bit of the so-called French flair, but when they are forced to defend, and also in the way they attack, there’s definitely a whole host of structure- and in the end, for us, it’s about stopping that,” mused van Graan.

“But the flip side of that is when we get field position, and we get go forward, we’ve shown this season we are very difficult to stop, and that’ll be the challenge. Can we impose our game onto them, and can we maintain our good discipline, adapting to the referee, something that we’ve done exceptionally well this season? We’re not going to do anything really different, and we have prepared the exact same way as we always do.”

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