Former England fly-half Andy Goode claims that Stuart Lancaster could be returning to Ireland after throwing his name into the ring to coach Munster.
Lancaster is currently in charge of Racing 92 but the team are currently struggling in the Top 14 where they sit eighth overall after just five wins from 11.
Lancaster returning to Ireland?
According to Goode, the former England and Leinster coach is also not popular with the playing squad and he wants to leave the Parisian club too.
With Munster in the market for a permanent replacement following the shock departure of Graham Rowntree, Goode says that Lancaster has put his name forward.
“Racing sent their team over to Sale on Friday night and got absolutely humper-dinked,” Goode said on The Rugby Pod referencing the French club’s 29-7 defeat.
“I’m hearing Lanny, either he wants out or they want him out. He’s picking his son at fly-half right and his lad comes from Ealing Trailfinders and he’s starting at 10.
“Apparently, the French lads are not happy with Stuart Lancaster whatsoever and I’m not sure Lanny’s enjoying it – that relationship with the French lads and the club.”
Goode and his co-host Jim Hamilton went on to say that in France, the blame for poor results often falls on the foreigners whether that be the coaches or players using Siya Kolisi as an example of that after the Springboks captain departed the club after just one season.
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“You know how fickle it is over there, when Jacky Lorenzetti can call out one of the best players in the world, Siya Kolisi, saying he’s put on weight and then you see Siya Kolisi leaves and goes back to the Sharks – it ain’t a stable relationship, is it, when you start losing a few,” Goode continued.
“And the easy thing to do over in Racing and in France, in general, is just blame the non-French guys, blame the English guys, blame the Scots, blame whoever else is there that’s not French and Lanny’s under some heat.
“I’ve heard he’s chucked his hat in the ring for Munster because he wants out of Racing but we’ll see what happens.”
Limited British success in France
Former Scotland lock Hamilton added: “Well, I mean, it’s a big job, right? The influence that he had at Leinster and then you go to Racing 92 and you think about when he went there and then what happened after that, you sign the best player in the world, Siya Kolisi, the most iconic player in the world, back-to-back World Cup winning captain.
“You then sign the most spoken about, one of the best, fly-halves of a generation, who’s still in his prime, Owen Farrell, and nothing’s happening and there’s a number of things that you put into that mix.
“France is one of them and Biggs [Dan Biggar] is part of the show and speaks about it, I’ve been there, you’ve seen there ain’t many success stories of people that come from the UK and Ireland that go over there.
“There’s not many, there’s a few and the ones that are good, the likes of Jack Willis, Blair Kinghorn, and Jonny Wilkinson as well. That kind of Toulon dynasty as well, what they had was the best kind of group of players that any team’s ever had. So yes, that was a success story.
“But the other ones that are kind of littered about, there ain’t many and it’s a tough environment culturally to infiltrate.”
Potential replacement
Hamilton believes that Lancaster also hasn’t integrated well because he doesn’t speak French which has hindered his impact. The Englishman taking a different approach to former Ireland fly-half Ronan O’Gara.
“I think there’s a coach first and foremost – you go there like you see Ronan O’Gara speaking French that there already is the gateway in and I know that Lanny doesn’t speak a lot of French,” he added.
“You’re a Parisian club where they’ve got history, not just in rugby but across Racing 92 like a wider sporting organization. Yes, they have some foreign players across there but mate you got to speak French and then he surrounded himself with the coaches as well that don’t really speak French and I’m sure they do.
“Then the position of all positions you put your son in at 10 and he’s not up to the level and that I’ve not seen much of him but I watched him on Friday night against Sale and now you’re talking about Racing 92 who want to win the Champions Cup.”
If Lancaster is to leave, Goode says that Racing have an able and willing replacement in the club already in the form of ex-France half-back Frédéric Michalak.
“But yeah, I’ve heard Frédéric Michalak is wanting to have the gig if Lanny goes,” he said.
“So an easy decision for Lorenzetti would be to promote a Frenchman and sack the Englishman.”
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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/stuart-lancaster-chucks-his-hat-in-the-ring-for-munster-job-as-french-lads-are-not-happy-andy-goode
