RWC 2015: Stuart Lancaster laments pitfalls of leading England

Coach says top job is ‘challenging’ and regrets front-row issues at World Cup

Chris Hewett
Rugby Union Correspondent
Tuesday 06 October 2015 22:02 BST
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Stuart Lancaster is determined to keep the England squad together
Stuart Lancaster is determined to keep the England squad together

If Stuart Lancaster had known the things that he knows now when he succeeded Martin Johnson as England boss shortly after the last World Cup in New Zealand, he would have given himself some sane and sober advice. “I’d have said: ‘Good luck, get yourself a tin hat and a flak jacket,’” the head coach remarked as he reflected further on the private agonies of his team’s all-too-public demise.

The Cumbrian did not go so far as to suggest that fronting up the red-rose operation is an impossible job, but by the time he had finished speaking, few members of his audience were left in the slightest doubt that there are easier tasks in sport: negotiating sponsorship for the Saudi Arabian ski-jumping team, for instance, or performing Olympic-standard dressage on a Shetland pony.

“This is a brilliant job, but it’s a tough job,” he said. “I think people underestimate the complexities of it and how those complexities affect the decisions you have to make. I understand, of course, that there’s no room for error and I know that we haven’t nailed a Six Nations title or a Grand Slam – that we certainly haven’t nailed this World Cup. I also know that all this will be taken into consideration over the next few weeks.

“But if you go back through the timeline and the challenges that have been placed in front of me since I took over, it’s been pretty challenging from the start. In an environment where expectation is high and every game is a must-win and you’re managing the club-country dynamics and operating under the Elite Player agreement, and the pressure then comes on because you don’t win…that’s tough.

“Coaching at national level is different to club coaching. If you manage a club for a period of time you can change the players, which is what Sir Alex Ferguson did at Manchester United. He stayed as manager while the players were moved on along the way. In international rugby, teams take longer to build because you have only 10 games a year, and the personnel tends to stay the same for greater periods of time.

“We’ve been in a dark place in recent days, and it’s still dark: how can you just brush off something like this? But I do think that once we get over the emotion of it all, we’ll recognise that this team will continue to get better.

“Can these players win major international honours? Absolutely they can. We didn’t win this one, obviously, but I believe 100 per cent in the players I’ve been addressing since the defeat by Australia. I also believe that our most talented players are also some of our youngest.”

I have no doubt that the team is much easier to take to a new level now than it was post-2011

&#13; <p>Stuart Lancaster, England head coach</p>&#13;

Four days into the World Cup post-mortem, Lancaster accepted that some of England’s forward play – supposedly the most reliable part of their operation – had gone flaky just when the nation needed it to be at its most cohesive.

“I’d say that’s fair,” he conceded, going on to discuss the damaging penalties awarded against the Harlequins loose-head prop Joe Marler at the set-piece during the Wallaby game. “The way the scrum was highlighted in the lead-up to matches affected our prop’s ability to dominate a poorer tight-head. I’m not making excuses by any stretch, but it has been a factor.

“Our scrum has been a disappointing area for us because we haven’t been able to achieve dominance, as I think Graham Rowntree [the England forwards coach] would be the first to say. We also had some line-out issues at the start of the build-up to this tournament, but I think we fixed them.

“The worst aspect for me was the final two scrums against Australia when we had five fresh forwards in the pack,” he added. “The last impression that people had of the game were those scrums, two penalties and that last Wallaby try. And last impressions count for a lot.”

By common consent, Lancaster has made solid progress in restoring the national team’s reputation as a serious-minded, hard-working unit, largely consisting of players who both recognise the privileges and understand the responsibilities of their positions.

One or two of those involved in the 2011 World Cup campaign in All Black country appear to believe that England’s failure here puts their own efforts in a better light, but the late-night bingeing in Queenstown, the tawdry disciplinary problems in Dunedin and Manu Tuilagi’s ferry-diving exploits in Auckland are too fresh in the memory for that argument to be taken seriously.

What is not clear is whether Lancaster has a genuine appetite to continue working at the top end of the game in this country. He is committed to making a decent fist of whatever is remaining of this tournament, which isn’t a fat lot from England’s perspective.

“It’s my job to give everyone a sense of direction and perspective,” he said. “That’s an important word. While the noise outside is huge, internally I’m determined that the players stay together, stay positive and keep believing in what they’re doing. They’ve played some brilliant rugby over the last 18 months and people shouldn’t forget that.”

But as he is on record as stating that the England team circa 2015 is in a far better condition than the version that he inherited from Johnson, would it not irk him to think that another head coach might spend the next four years building on firm foundations?

“Whatever happens, I have no doubt that the team is much easier to take to a new level now than it was post-2011,” he said, a little evasively. “This is a rock-solid team with a rock-solid culture, full of good people.

“The review into what has happened will take its course and the players will give their feedback. But judging by the feedback that they’ve given me – and I have no reason to think they would tell me something that’s not true when we have strong enough relationships for them to say what they like – they believe we’re in a good place. And I do, too.”

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