Former Leinster and current Racing 92 coach Stuart Lancaster has claimed he has lost all respect for former England international Andy Goode after he suggested on a podcast that Lancaster was about to leave for Munster because he wanted a way out of the French Top 14 side.
Speaking on The Rugby Pod podcast, Goode remarked that Lancaster was preparing to throw his hat into the ring for the vacant Munster job.
“I’ve heard he’s chucked his hat in the ring for Munster because he wants out of Racing, but we’ll see what happens,” Goode said.
The former England player also claimed that Lancaster was favouring his son at fly-half and that this had caused discontent among other players in the squad.
Strong stuff from Stuart Lancaster:
“I was disappointed by the lies told about me. One of them started in England about my departure for Munster, which is totally false.”https://t.co/UWuWiMx7pX
— Cian Tracey (@CianTracey1) December 29, 2024
“He’s picking his son at fly-half. Apparently, the French lads are not happy with Stuart Lancaster whatsoever, and I’m not sure Lanny’s enjoying that relationship with the French lads and the club," he added.
“The easy thing to do over in Racing and in France, in general, is just to blame the non-French option, blame the English guys, blame the Scots, blame whoever else is there that’s not French, and Lanny’s under some heat.”
Addressing the comments made by Goode, Lancaster claimed they were lies and expressed disappointment with the lack of fact-checking by Goode and others on the podcast.
Speaking to French outlet RMC Sport, Lancaster said: “I was disappointed by the lies told about me. One of them started in England about my departure for Munster, which is totally false. I lost all the respect I had for the people on the podcast who said that.
“But what disappointed me the most was the fact that other people presented information on their websites as true without checking the facts. We live in a world full of false information; it is a responsibility to check it.”
