Leinster's European Champions Cup final victory 'not about vindication' for former England boss Stuart Lancaster

Leinster senior coach helped mastermind the Irish side's fourth European Cup final victory to equal Toulouse's record two-and-a-half years after being sacked by England

Stuart Lancaster celebrates Leinster's European Champions Cup glory after beating Racing 92 (Getty)

Stuart Lancaster insisted that Leinster’s Champions Cup victory over Racing 92 was not redemption for his sacking as England head coach after he helped craft the Irish province’s record-equalling fourth European Cup triumph, instead paying tribute to those close friends and family that stuck by him in the hard times following his dismissal.

Having been axed by the Rugby Football Union following the 2015 Rugby World Cup debacle, Lancaster found a new home at Leinster at the start of the 2016/17 season, and alongside head coach Leo Cullen he has led the club to their first Champions Cup victory since 2012, equalling Toulouse’s record tally of four wins in the process.

With England currently struggling after three consecutive losses in the Six Nations earlier this year, much has been made of Lancaster’s success in Ireland as well as that of Andy Farrell, his former defence coach who is now with the Irish national team, but Lancaster was quick to take the attention off himself after Saturday’s narrow 15-12 victory in Bilbao.

“It’s not about vindication,” Lancaster said. “It means a huge amount to me obviously and it means a huge amount to my family and friends. They were the ones who all stood by me in the tough times after the World Cup, never once wavered in their belief in my ability. It’s for them really.”

Lancaster’s impact on the squad has not been left unnoticed, with a number of players – Ireland internationals included – giving him a glowing reference both to the media and behind the scenes. It transpired this week that the Leinster fly-half, Johnny Sexton, helped persuade Lancaster over to the club following Cullen’s offer to join him by sending a text message ahead of his acceptance, and the stand-off – who joins teammates Isa Nacewa, Rob Kearney and Cian Healy as well as ex-Toulouse and Toulon players Carl Hayman and Freddie Michalak as four-time winners – defended Lancaster’s record with England.

leinster have now won the Champions Cup four times (Getty)

“If you know rugby and you looked at England, he did an unbelievable job with that team I think and when he was in charge they won four out of five two or three years in a row and got nothing, we won four out of five a couple of years and got two championships,” Sexton said after the match.

“It’s small margins and if you look at that Wales game at the World Cup, a bounce of the ball, a decision on the halfway line could go to England, [Owen] Farrell kicks the penalty and England go through, potentially go on and win a World Cup.

“I think I always found from when we played England with him as coach we struggled at times and we found them really hard to play against, really hard to counter-attack against and he also played a big part of that. If you take some of the media reaction to him leaving England away, I thought he was an outstanding coach and spoke to a few English guys – the Farrells mainly – and they spoke very highly of him, which is why I text after Leo asked him.”

Isa Nacewa kicked two late penalties to win the European Champions Cup for Leinster (Getty)

Nacewa, who kicked the two penalties that drew Leinster level and then sealed victory in the penultimate minute, heralded those members of the team behind the scenes for what was a “special day for the province and a special day for the club”, and with a potential two games left of his career with the Pro14 semi-finals next week, he insisted he and the rest of the squad will make the most of this victory.

“It’s a long journey so you’ve got to make the most of this moment,” the Leinster captain said ahead of his retirement at the end of the season. “We’ve got to celebrate. It is what it is next week but we know what’s in front of us, we’ve just got to make the most of this moment – we just won a European final. A lot of people deserve to celebrate this, and then we’ll turn the page next week.”