Picture the scene: David Humphreys is at his desk in the IRFU High Performance Centre in Abbotstown, west Dublin. On one phone line he was Stuart Lancaster telling him it would be in the best interest of all concerned if Player X, in his second year at Leinster’s Academy, packed his bags and jumped on a train for Galway where Lancaster would meet him at the station and fastrack the lad into Connacht’s senior squad. In the course of the conversation Lancaster also mentions Player Y who is just out of school about to join Leinster’s Academy, and Player Z who is still in school but is locked on the same trajectory in blue. All three, Lancaster argues, would be best served by going west. In fairness, he would have a decent handle on the development pathway and how best it can be negotiated.
On the other line, blue light flashing, Humphreys has Leo Cullen waiting impatiently. Cullen is doing deep breathing exercises trying to stay calm about the prospect of Lancaster, to whom Leinster showed an open door at a key point in the Englishman’s coaching career, trying to chew the hand that once fed him. He’s telling Humphreys that Lancaster in Leinster was a different beast to Lancaster in Connacht. In the first incarnation the former England boss was almost de facto on the Ireland coaching staff, given his influence over boys in blue hoping to become men in green.
James Ryan, Hugo Keenan, Andrew Porter, Jimmy O’Brien and Max Deegan were all going through induction to the Academy when Lancaster fetched up in Dublin in summer 2016. A year later Caelan Doris, Ronán Kelleher, Tommy O’Brien and Ciarán Frawley were among the new recruits. All benefitted hugely from Lancaster’s presence; and all bar Tommy O’Brien have been capped by Ireland. That box will be ticked for the winger on the tour to Georgia and Lisbon next month.
His [Lancaster’s] arrival to the redevelopment work at Connacht’s stadium and the timing is perfect. By late summer its effect on season ticket sales at the Sportsground should be a cause for celebration.
Humphreys already has remedial work in Ulster and Munster high on his list of priorities, so he is alive to the need to keep the Leinster door open to player movement. Equally he is mindful of protecting the province that is feeding the nation. That balancing act might be tricky but it’s only an inconvenience compared to the boost from having Lancaster back on deck.
If Pat Lam has been the only coach to bring silverware to Connacht then Andy Friend was the perfect choice when Kieran Keane, Lam’s successor, didn’t work out. The Aussie didn’t have a turbo boost contribution to the province’s place in the Irish pecking order but still he did a very good job. Lancaster however is unique in the list of Connacht coaches in that his presence will have an immediately positive effect on morale. You add his arrival to the redevelopment work at Connacht’s stadium and the timing is perfect. By late summer its effect on season ticket sales at the Sportsground should be a cause for celebration.
The stuff on the pitch though is not a gimme. In his Leinster incarnation Lancaster was never slow to acknowledge the quality of young players coming through the gate. It appealed to him as a former schoolteacher. He was being handed honours students, year on year. To his credit he didn’t sit back and let the show run itself, rather he tried to make good material better. That applied to the schools and club coaches as well as the players.
Connacht is not Leinster. There is no queue down the College Road of hopefuls for the new High Performance Centre at Dexcom Stadium. There is no competition among the schools in that province to have the best rugby programme. There is no hub, the rough equivalent of pockets in south County Dublin, where rugby is the only show in town. In Connacht, rugby is a hard sell.
Lancaster will open a gateway to the west, which is why Leo Cullen is shifting uneasily in his chair.
Having Lancaster on board will surely sex it up a bit but his value in the short term will come in his impact on the senior squad, and the Academy, and in attracting young players to leave the east coast for Galway. For example a year ago Leinster lads Sam Berman and Wilhelm de Klerk transferred from Leinster to the Ulster Academy, encouraged by the presence in Ravenhill of coach Richie Murphy. Now Lancaster will open a gateway to the west, which is why Leo Cullen is shifting uneasily in his chair. Bad enough that Leinster are in a mental bind after another failed assault on Europe, worse that a man who might have eased that pain will instead be adding to it next season.
Does it matter that a couple of months ago Lancaster was working out the logistics of a move to Sydney, and a job with the Wallabies? Not at all. When he got the call from Cullen to go to Leinster in 2016 the commute from Leeds to Dublin was not on his radar. The best way to get over the disappointment of the Australia job falling through is to get on with another gig. Lancaster loved his time in Ireland and Connacht will be a whole new experience for him. It will be good for coach, club and country.
