Stuart Lancaster: Outgoing Leinster senior coach ‘would like’ to work in Ireland again

Dylan Coetzee
Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster looks on before a game.

2JA7HMN Leinster coach Stuart Lancaster before the Heineken Champions Cup final at the Stade Velodrome, Marseille. Picture date: Saturday May 28, 2022.

Outgoing Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster claims the Champions Cup final result this weekend will not define his time at the club, as he also admitted he would one day like to return to Ireland.

Lancaster’s side face La Rochelle in the Champions Cup final on Saturday in Dublin in what is a replay of last season’s showpiece game, and Leinster will be out to gain revenge for the loss on that occasion.

It also marks the final game of Lancaster’s time with the Dublin outfit before he departs to Top 14 side Racing 92 where he will take up a director of rugby role from next season.

Relationship and impact more important

The coach believes results do not define him but rather the impact and relationships with people around him.

“It won’t define me personally,” he said. “Ultimately, what defines you really is your integrity and your values and your ability to build relationships, and get on with people and develop people.

“That’s what I’ve tried to do while I’ve been here. I’ve been around rugby long enough to know that there are so many variables that can happen in any game, that can influence the outcome, that you’re not in control of as a coach.

“You can have a sending-off in the first minute, the bounce of a ball goes here, a refereeing decision goes there, so it’s trying not to hold on too tight to the outcome really, and then making sure I enjoy the last week here.

“The last thing I want to do is be consumed by the result. I want to enjoy the occasion, enjoy the week, enjoy what happens at the end, but then look back as a brilliant period in my career, and hopefully not the last time I’m back.

“And I do genuinely mean that. I would like to come back.

“Definitely to coach. It definitely feels like a big step to leave.

“In the background you’re trying to organise a coaching team and recruit players and everything else (for Racing), there’s been times I’ve sat on Zoom calls thinking, ‘I’ve absolutely no idea about what that guy’s said’.”

Challenges ahead

Moving to Racing 92 is more than just a change in coaching scenery for Lancaster but also in life, with the former England coach expecting to deal with several differences on and off the field.

“So the language barrier, the Top 14… it’s going to be a hell of a coaching challenge, trying to build a team in the identity of rugby that I believe in but not cutting across what Racing are about,” he said.

“It’s one I feel I’m ready for and ultimately in four years time or however long it lasts, I think I’ll be a better coach.

“Hopefully I still have a bit to go before I achieve that and Ireland will always be a place I’d love to come back to, definitely.”

READ MORE: Champions Cup: Ronan O’Gara’s obsession with winning has changed La Rochelle’s mindset