European Champions Cup final: Stuart Lancaster handed shot at redemption

Saturday’s European Champions Cup final could well be a story of redemption and domination.

Redemption for Stuart Lancaster, domination for his Leinster team. That’s if the final in Bilbao goes as expected with the Irish side heavy favourites to win a fourth Champions Cup after their Heineken Cup wins in 2008, 2011 and 2012 and become just the second club to win the European Cup four times, joining Toulouse.

Two-and-a-half years ago, Lancaster was sacked as England head coach, the result of the country’s most humiliating Rugby World Cup performance as they were dumped out of their own tournament in the pool stage for the first time. That took its toll on Lancaster, and for more than a year he remained out of the media eye and out of work.

That was until Leinster came calling and offered Lancaster the position of senior coach, working alongside current head coach Leo Cullen. The former Leinster lock does most of the media work, allowing Lancaster to work behind the scenes and get back to doing what he loves most – coaching. Now, nearly two seasons into his work in Ireland, Lancaster has his shot at redemption as the province bids to win a fourth European Champions Cup crown.

This week Lancaster ruled himself out of the running to replace John Kingston as director of rugby at Harlequins, and it is easy to see why. Leinster are in the Champions Cup final – and heavy favourites to win it – reached the Pro14 play-offs with ease and have built what could transpire to be one of the great sides of European rugby.

But he is not about to take the credit for it.

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“If you want to build a team you’d love to get the culture right first,” Lancaster said. “And get a strong sense of identity. With England that’s what I tried to do when we took over in 2011/12.

“With Leinster I was lucky in that I came into a team that has a strong culture and a very strong identity because 90 per cent of the players are born in Leinster. Which is incredible, I haven’t had to do too much. I have just come in and learned about it, tried to embrace it, live here, feel part of the community. If you do that it is a very powerful force.”

But a good measure of the job that Lancaster is doing is to ask those around him. Many of the club’s Irish players have said that they rank the former England head coach alongside Joe Schmidt. Lancaster could well end up as part of the Ireland set-up after the 2019 Rugby World Cup once Schmidt leaves, given that his former colleague, Andy Farrell, is already there as defence coach. That would understandably feel like a loss to English rugby, given both men have increased their stock since that embarrassing day in September 2015.

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Now, Leinster stand on the verge of domination. Conquer Europe for the fourth time – joining Toulouse as the only side to do so – and there’s weight to the argument that this side is actually better than the one that last won the Heineken Cup six years ago, eclipsing the likes of Brian O’Driscoll, Jamie Heaslip, Rocky Elsom and Cullen himself. It would also continue the Irish stranglehold on European rugby at present, following the Six Nations Grand Slam and their rise to second in the World Rugby rankings behind only the All Blacks.

Saturday’s final will make history regardless as the first to take place in Spain, where the presence of rugby continues to grow – not always for the right reasons. If Leinster fire on all cylinders, greatness beckons, yet you won’t see Lancaster taking the plaudits anytime soon.