Connacht Rugby is preparing to enter a new era as the new URC season gets under way this weekend, welcoming new head coach Stuart Lancaster into the western fold at a soon-to-be opened new-look Dexcom Stadium
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The former England, Leinster and Racing 92 coach is now in situ at the western province and is “super excited” ahead of Connacht’s opening fixture at home to Italian side Benetton on Saturday.
“Ready to go,” says Lancaster, looking ahead to the weekend. “We’ve made some tweaks to how we train. Experiences of being at Leinster, coaching England are relevant, and being in France as well.
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“I always believed coming in that the foundations were strong and I felt that Connacht had a high ceiling.”
Acknowledging Connacht’s 13th-place finish last season, he adds: “Last year, I think they were frustrated they didn’t achieve more. If you look at the metrics of line breaks and defenders beaten, attack was a really strong part of Connacht’s game.
“The bit I felt needed to balance out was the defence, but also game management. It’s all well having a great attacking mindset, but if you come 13th, that’s not the outcome we all want.”
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But tweaks have been made to address the issues, he says, adding his new squad have benefited from their three British & Irish Lions as well as the six players who toured with Ireland over the summer.
Those aforementioned Lions – Bundee Aki, Mack Hansen and Finlay Bealham – are out of action for now, while Harry West has been ruled out of the Benetton clash due to a soft tissue injury.
Lancaster admits Connacht was far from his mind when he left French side Racing 92 in February, following which he fielded calls from Australia and Wales.
“I was pretty burnt, to be honest. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to do next, other than leaving France,” he recalls.
Then came a stroke of serendipity. A Challenge Cup quarter-final brought Racing 92 to the Dexcom to face Connacht. With their son Dan lining out for the away side, Lancaster and his wife Nina made the trip to Galway for the game.
“I said, ‘God, we miss Ireland, don’t we?’ And it just so happened that Off The Ball asked for an interview for the following Wednesday. It was all coincidence,” he says.
In that interview, Lancaster was asked if he would return to Ireland, to which he replied: “Yeah, I never left on bad terms. We really enjoyed our time here, and you never say never. Let’s see what happens.”
So the door was ajar, and it wasn’t long before the IRFU’s performance director David Humphries thought to give it a push, followed by a chat with Connacht CEO Willie Ruane.
“We very much saw it as a family decision, and also a rugby one,” says Lancaster.
“The rugby one was an easy one for me because it was a chance to coach full-time in a club environment that I knew [has] good people, a great place to live, etc. So it didn’t take a huge amount of persuading for me to sort of put my hat in the ring.”
