Former Ireland number eight Jamie Heaslip has said that Leinster senior coach Jamie Heaslip is up there with ‘the best coaches he’s ever worked under’.
Lancaster spent one season with Heaslip at Leinster after leaving England following their Pool stage exit at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, and while the 48-year-old is earning rave reviews for helping turn Leinster’s fortunes around since joining the club , Heaslip has said that he’s brought more structure and intensity to training at the province.
“He has big ambition for the club, he really likes the club, and he is a bit blown away by the fact that around 90-95% of the squad are actually from Leinster,” said Heaslip on the BBC’s Rugby Weekly podcast.
“He took a bit of time out post that World Cup, went to different environments and learned.
“I don’t know what he was like [coaching England], but he has definitely brought a really good intensity and structure to training.
“He’s been a massive addition in terms of playing and behind the scenes in terms of culture and how we want to be at Leinster.
“I put him up there with [Ireland Grand-Slam winning coach] Joe Schmidt in terms of best coaches I have ever worked for.”
Heaslip also cited the freedom Lancaster encourages in his players and that his faith in their ability to attack inspires confidence in his squads.
“He was giving me the opportunity to be a lot more free and I think you saw that in that first season of Stuart being involved with us in terms of the freedom I had in the games.
“And I think that’s what he’s given to a lot of the back rows and to a lot of the players.”
Ireland prop Tadhg Furlong also credited the former England coach for his rise from Leinster to the Lions and added that Lancaster gave him the confidence to believe that he was capable of making the squad for the summer tour of New Zealand.
“It’s weird the journey you take when you get your first international start and you get exposed to that big world, and all its pressures,” Furlong told RTE Sport last year.
“As you get used to it and spend more time in that high-pressure environment, you can probably let your game play a bit more.
“I came out of the November Tests with a lot of confidence.
“When you start to put minutes on minutes it can give you that bit of confidence that you can start pushing towards or aiming for something.
“But I think the real moment, the focus for me this year, was when Stuart Lancaster came in to Leinster.
“He obviously hadn’t worked with a lot of the players there before.
“And when we sat down he said ‘from what I’ve seen you can really try to push on and aim to be a Lion this year’.
“At first I thought ‘jeez man, what are you saying?!’.
“You probably don’t see yourself in that picture. But he backed me, gave me a focus and a good drive towards it.”
