Connacht have today announced the news that Stuart Lancaster has signed a two year deal with them to become there new head coach. He will come on board along with Billy Millard who was announced previously.
Lancaster has recently been with Racing 92 in the Top 14 and left that job in February of this year. He had spent the previous few years as Leinster Senior Coach helping to lead them to a number of league titles and the Champions Cup win in 2018.
Lancaster will be hoping his experience in Irish rugby will help him settle in quickly to the job in Galway. The work to complete the expansion of the Dexacom Stadium will hopefully be finished by the time the new season begins in October.
Stuart Lancaster will be hoping to put his own stamp on the Connacht squad if the budget will allow him to bring in a player or two of his choosing. He has a good young squad even if they have been inconsistent in the last number of years.
The bonus of bringing him in is that he won’t need bedding in period and will know the system that is in play within Irish rugby in terms of recruitment and retention of players as well as the playing time of the Irish internationals in particular.
Lancaster has been in and around Irish rugby since 2016 when he was brought into the Leinster set up to support Leo Cullen and the rest of his coaching team as a senior coach.
Connacht will be hoping that some of the success he had in regards to help develop some young talent will help the next generation of Connacht players in the Connacht set up as well as those in the academy.
We have heard many times from some of the guys that worked with him in Leinster about those now legendary “Stu Tuesdays”. I am sure his coaching philosophy has moved on slightly since those days. You can sure though that if one of those famed sessions is called for that he will revert to them if need be.
For any player that will play under him over the next two years they will learn plenty and will become far better players for their time spent with him. He has come a long way since his time as England head coach which ended in late 2015 after a group exit in that year’s World Cup in England.
He has a big job on his hands, make no mistake about it and he won’t go into the job with his eyes closed. There is defiantly the raw material within the squad to do better than they have done in recent years since the Pro 12 win 9 years ago.
He will have a chance to access the players at his disposal once they return from well-earned time off and in some cases touring with Ireland or in the case of Bundee Aki a tour of Australia with the British and Irish Lions.
The new season can’t come quick enough for those out West with today’s news. It has been well received and now the hard work will begin once pre-season commences. Connacht will be watched more closely than before with Stuart Lancaster’s hand on the tiller, role on season 25/26…..