William Stuart Lancaster (born 9 October 1969) is an English rugby union coach and former player who is currently the head coach of Irish club Connacht.
After managing Leeds Tykes/Carnegie and the England Saxons, Lancaster was appointed as the head coach of the English national team in 2011 until he stepped down in 2015, following the World Cup. He then joined Leinster as a senior coach the following year where he won one European Rugby Champions Cup in 2018 as well as four Pro 14 championships within a staff run by Leo Cullen before leaving for Racing 92 in 2023.
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Early life and education
William Stuart Lancaster was born on (1969-10-09)9 October 1969 in Penrith, Cumberland. He grew up in the village of Culgaith, where he was sent to St. Bees School. He started his rugby playing career at the school playing for the 1st XV, in a rugby league area. He started in the front row as a hooker, although at the age of 15, he moved to flanker where he played his best rugby. After leaving school in 1988, Lancaster headed to Carnegie College in Leeds to train as a PE Teacher, while continuing his rugby career playing for Wakefield RFC. After qualifying in 1991, he began teaching at Kettlethorpe High School.
Playing career
In 1991 Lancaster started playing for Headingley RFC. When Headingley merged with Roundhay RUFC, Lancaster joined the newly formed team Leeds RFU, where he would play the remainder of career. In 1998, he took a substantial leave from teaching to become a full-time professional rugby player with Leeds Tykes, of which he became the first Leeds player to play a century of games since the amalgamation of Headingley and Roundhay, and was named captain of newly branded team.
Through his Scottish mother he played for Scotland Students, Scotland U19 and Scotland U21. Lancaster was forced to retire from playing rugby aged 30. A teenage Tom Palmer, who would later play under Lancaster, hit a tackle bag that Stuart was holding, tearing his hamstring off the bone completely.
Coaching career
Leeds Tykes/Carnegie
After retiring in 2000, Lancaster ran the Leeds RFU Academy for five years from 2001. However, in 2006 after Leeds Tykes were relegated after the 2005–06 Guinness Premiership season, Lancaster replaced Phil Davies as head coach before the 2006–07 National Division One. In Lancaster's debut season, he led Leeds to promotion with 122 points. The victory was without high-profile players like Justin Marshall and Iain Balshaw. Now back in the top flight English rugby competition, Leeds Carnegie – the renamed title of the club – remained bottom of the table for the whole season, only getting 2 victories from 22, and were relegated at the end of the 2007–08 Guinness Premiership season. Lancaster later departed the club after being appointed RFU's Elite Rugby Director.
England Saxons and head of elite player development
Rob Andrew, the RFU's Elite Rugby Director announced Lancaster's appointment on 6 May 2008 stating "This is a very important appointment for the department. Stuart brings Guinness Premiership coaching experience and is also one of the coaches who has achieved the Elite Coaching Level 5 qualification." The move was taken poorly by the owners of Leeds Carnegie the club where he was Director of Rugby before joining the RFU, who felt they should have been contacted regarding the appointment.
Part of Lancaster's role was to develop younger players, which saw Lancaster coach the England Saxons during the 2008 Churchill Cup winning campaign. This included a 62–10 win over the United States and a 34–12 win over the Ireland Wolfhounds, to set up a Cup Final against Scotland A, of which England Saxons won 36–19. Lancaster returned to role for the 2010 Churchill Cup, which saw the Saxons win all three of their matches including the cup final against Canada, winning 38–18. He oversaw the Saxons sixth winning campaign during the 2011 Churchill Cup, which for the first time England hosted. The winning campaign included a record 87–8 victory over the United States and a 41–14 win over Tonga. They beat Canada for a second consecutive year, winning 37–6 at the Sixways Stadium in Worcester. In addition to the England Saxons, Lancaster also oversaw an impressive period for the England U20's team, which included a grand slam victory during the 2011 Six Nations Under 20s Championship and three finals berths in the IRB Junior World Championship between 2008 and 2011.
England
Lancaster's tenure as head coach has been praised for the overhaul and reformation of England's squad culture, which had resulted in much media attention to the team's off-field antics during the 2011 Rugby World Cup, which immediately preceded Lancaster's reign. Lancaster has demanded that England's players be good role models, and as such has excluded players from various squads. Examples of this policy include Danny Care's exclusion from the 2012 Six Nations Championship, and Manu Tuilagi's omission from England's 2015 Rugby World Cup preparations. However, Lancaster's team selections, particularly at centre, and his failure to select or develop a specialist openside flanker for England have been criticised.
Following the 2011 Rugby World Cup, England head coach Martin Johnson resigned from his post, with the RFU appointing Lancaster as interim head coach for the 2012 Six Nations Championship, while the RFU continued to search for a full-time coach, with the likes of South African Nick Mallett and New Zealander Wayne Smith reportedly expressing interest in the vacant job. On 29 March 2012, following a second-place finish in the Six Nations campaign, Lancaster was appointed as the English head coach, keeping his assistants Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell.
Lancaster's first match in charge as the official head coach came on 27 May 2012 against the Barbarians, which England won 57–26, though this was not a full test match. this was followed by a three test tour of South Africa. The 9 June clash with South Africa was Lancaster's first test match in charge, and England lost to the Springboks 22–17. A week later England were defeated again 36–27. However, in the final test on 23 June 2015, England secured a 14–14 draw, their first draw since 8 December 1906.
During the 2012 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Lancaster led the English to narrow defeats to Australia 20–14 and South Africa 15–16, before leading England to a 38–21 victory over World Cup Champions New Zealand. Despite beating the No. 1 ranked team in the world, England's earlier losses proved costly, as they lowered England's seeding for the 2015 Rugby World Cup draw, held three years in advance. On 1 December 2012, England were drawn in Pool A for the World Cup, alongside Australia and Wales.
During 2013, Lancaster led England to second in the Six Nations for a second consecutive year. Lancaster led the team to a 12–6 victory over Ireland in Ireland, England's first victory in Ireland since their 2003 Grand Slam triumph. England could have claimed their first grand slam since 2003, however a record 30–3 loss to Wales in the final week at the Millennium Stadium, saw Wales claim the Six Nations title. The scale of the defeat saw Lancaster criticised for his selection of inside centre, and the balance of England's back row, which lacked a breakdown specialist to compete with Wales' Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric.
Leinster
On 5 September 2016, Leinster announced that Lancaster would join their backroom team with immediate effect as a senior coach. It had been thought that the coaching staff for Leinster was complete, however the sudden departure of Kurt McQuilkin, due to family reasons, meant there was a position available. He was hailed as an inspirational coach by the Leinster players following the sides victory over Racing 92 in the 2018 Champions Cup final. During his time at the club and as part of the senior coaching team, Leinster also won four Guinness PRO12/14 titles. On 26 September 2022, Leinster Rugby announced that Lancaster would be leaving to join French Top 14 side Racing 92 for the following season.
Racing 92
On 30 June 2023, Racing 92 officially announced the appointment of Lancaster as first-team head coach alongside assistants Dimitri Szarzewski, Frédéric Michalak and Joe Rokocoko.
Connacht
On 3 June 2025, Lancaster was announced as the new head coach of Connacht Rugby on a two-year deal.
Honours
Player
Wakefield
Yorkshire Cup
Champion (1): 1990
Leeds
Yorkshire Cup
Champion (1): 1998
Coach
Leeds Tykes
National Division One
Champion (1): 2006–07
England Saxons
Churchill Cup
Champion (3): 2008, 2010, 2011
England
Six Nations Championship
Runner-up (4): 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Triple Crown
Winner (1): 2014
Calcutta Cup
Winner (4): 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Millennium Trophy
Winner (3): 2012, 2013, 2014
Leinster
Champions Cup
Champion (1): 2017–18
Runner-up (3): 2018–19, 2021–22, 2022–23
Pro14
Champion (4): 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21