Stuart Lancaster (born 9 October 1969 in Penrith, Cumbria) is the interim Head Coach and Head of Elite Player Development for the England Rugby Football Union.
Lancaster ran the Leeds/RFU Academy for five years from 2001 after playing under former boss Phil Davies before retiring in 2000. He became the Director of Rugby at Leeds Carnegie in 2006.[1]
A former back rower, Lancaster was the first ever player to play more than 100 games for Davies' Leeds before taking up a full time role developing the young players at the club.
He began playing for Leeds following the merge of Headingley and Roundhay, having previously played for Headingley. He also played for Wakefield Rugby Football Club and represented Scotland at U19 and U21 level and Scotland Students.
Lancaster used to be a PE teacher at Kettlethorpe High School.
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."[2] The move was taken poorly by the owners of Leeds Carneigie the club from which he was Director of Rugby before joing the RFU, who felt they should have been contacted regarding the appointment.[3]
On 8 December 2011, Lancaster was appointed head coach of the England rugby team on a short term basis assisted by existing forwards coach Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell.