LEINSTER'S STUART LANCASTER HAS signed a deal at French top 14 side Racing 92 according to a report by French outlet L'Équipe.
The outlet reports the deal was signed on Thursday. It is also reported by other outlets that the Englishman will join the Top 14 giants at the end of the season.
The former England coach took up a role with Leinster in 2016, but has now decided to make the move to France to become Laurent Travers' replacement as head coach.
Travers will take up a role as director of rugby after the 2023 World Cup.
Lancaster has had a transformative impact at the Irish province since arriving.
He has been part of a coaching setup that has won Leinster a Champions Cup and numerous Pro14 titles.
The L'Équipe report said: "According to our information, Lancaster signed his contract on Thursday.
"By attracting such a figure, recognised by his peers as one of the finest coaches in Europe, Racing marks the beginning of a new era.
"Until now, (owner) Jacky Lorenzetti had never entrusted the keys to Le Plessis to English speaker, but he had expressed in recent months his desire to open up to this possibility.
"Lancaster knows where he is stepping. In 2018, he came to spend three days at Racing."
INFO L'ÉQUIPE. Ancien sélectionneur de l'Angleterre, Stuart Lancaster, actuellement en poste au Leinster, remplacera Laurent Travers à la fin de cette saison pour diriger le Racing 92 https://t.co/5PCPBxeRkP pic.twitter.com/MXmE2UpEQD
— L'ÉQUIPE (@lequipe) September 23, 2022
The same article also states that former Leinster player and coach Felipe Contepomi, who left Leinster to join the Argentina set-up this year could join up with Lancaster after the World Cup, which takes place in France next year.
Yesterday Leo Cullen was asked about rumours linking his staff members to other clubs, he said: "
"We are very lucky that we have a very strong group, some great people in our building and that’s credit to a lot of the work that goes on over the last number of years, so we are very lucky in that regard," the Leinster boss added.
"But the reality is there is lots of other clubs who look at the talent, whether that is players or coaches, we have, and that is something we have to deal with all of the time and people make different decisions at different stages.
"And we are trying to talk about one person specifically who has been and amazing since he came into Leinster.
"So that's just part and parcel of the business we are in."
Leinster play Italian side Benneton tonight in the RDS (19.35pm).
