By Mitch Phillips
LONDON Jan 25 (Reuters) – The old chestnut of
“arrogant England” was rolled back on to the rugby agenda this
week and if caretaker coach Stuart Lancaster achieves just one
thing during his spell in charge, it is likely to be the utter
destruction of that epithet.
The straight-talking northerner is the antithesis of the
public school persona that for many still taints the world’s
biggest union and in his few weeks in charge so far he has been
working overtime to ensure the players are firmly disavowed from
any notion of innate superiority.
“I’m from a working class background, I worked on a farm, I
spent a lot of time with a club (Leeds) that struggled and
fought its way through the leagues and those things are
important to my values,” Lancaster told reporters at the
official Six Nations championship launch on Wednesday.
Given that it was former England player and coach – now
Scotland coach – Andy Robinson who was the latest to accuse his
old team of arrogance towards his new one at the World Cup, it
was not something to be completely ignored.
“Some things needed to change after the World Cup and I’ve
spoken to all the players. It couldn’t be swept under the carpet
but it’s been dealt with and the conclusion was: learn the
lessons, draw the line, move on,” he said.
“My message is that you will get respect if you act
responsibly. This is a new team and I would be disappointed if
in six to 12 months people termed us as arrogant.”
Having spent most of his playing and coaching career out of
the limelight, Lancaster was clearly appalled at England’s
behaviour during the World Cup and, having been appointed as an
interim replacement for Martin Johnson, wasted little time in
bringing the highly-paid squad down to earth.
Continued…
