Conor O’Shea first came across Stuart Lancaster as opposing players in 1996, when the former was a fullback for London Irish and the latter a backrower with Leeds. They were both employed by the RFU, O’Shea as the Director of Regional Academies from 2005 to ‘08, and Lancaster their Elite Rugby Director from ‘08 to ‘12. O’Shea was even part of the RFU appointments’ committee and interview panel which chose Lancaster.
The erudite former Irish fullback turned Director of Rugby at Harlequins, and RTÉ pundit, knows Lancaster well and not only respects him but clearly likes him and believes he has done a superb rebuilding job after England’s charmless and anti-climactic 2011 World Cup campaign.
“He’s a very straight down-the-line guy,†O’Shea says of the English head coach. “He’s very passionate about what he does, and is unbelievably well read. You talk about Joe (Schmidt) having that Mr Rugby nickname, and no one else will be called that, but Stuart has the same massive thirst for knowledge. He would go anywhere to learn something. But he’s a typical Yorkshire person. Head firmly on his shoulders. No ego, and expects other people to be like that.â€
In personnel, in style and perhaps most of all in character, Lancaster has virtually remoulded the discredited English side he inherited from Martin Johnson into one mirroring his own hard-working and humble persona.
As a measure of the Lancaster revolution, only Dan Cole of the English side that beat Scotland last Saturday, and which will probably be retained to face Ireland next Saturday, started that fateful World Cup quarter-final defeat to France, while Dylan Hartley was a replacement that night. None of the rest of last Saturday’s match-day 23 were involved in Johnson’s final game.
Without them
Before his first Six Nations campaign he took some of the old guard out for a coffee and individually informed the likes of Nick Easter, Mike Tindall and Mark Cueto that he would be moving on without them. He picked eight debutants in his first match-day 23.
Not all of them worked out, and England rode their luck with narrow away wins to Scotland and Italy thanks, in each instance, to blockdown tries by Charlie Hodgson, but his stand-in role has evolved into a permanent role.
He has retained the services of Andy Farrell, Graham Rowntree and Mike Catt, and a new, younger team with one eye on hosting the 2015 World Cup have progressed impressively. They have beaten the All Blacks, drawn a third Test in South Africa on the day Ireland lost 60-0 in New Zealand, and won 10 of their dozen Six Nations game under Lancaster’s watch, their only defeats being to Wales.
“He’s been outstanding, too, in his relationship with the clubs,†says O’Shea from personal experience, “and building that trust. His communication is second to none. At times you’d almost tell him not to ring you because he’d ring you an hour and a half after an international to give you a quick update. That’s just the way he is.â€
Certain characters and egos have not been accommodated, the fractious cliques along Leicester/Saracens/Harlequins lines have been done away with, and the players clearly like him. He’s helped revive their English rugby heritage, yet have become a more open, media friendly group as well.
Another benchmark appointment in this process was emulating O’Shea’s choice of Chris Robshaw as captain at Harlequins. “He went for him for the reasons I went for him,†says O’Shea. “He’s not Winston Churchill. Doesn’t want to be ever seen like that. He works harder than any other player.
‘On the chin’
“He’s always taken disappointment on the chin and come back stronger for it, and that goes the whole way back in his life. His dad died when he was young. He had a ‘career-ending injury’. He’s always had adversity, like not being picked for the 2011 World Cup, when I was championing him. And I championed him for the Lions.
Article source: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/rugby-league-burgess-thurston-boot-shortlist-044331989--spt.html
England pack will be biggest threat to Ireland in Twickenham
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