Lancaster finally allows mask to slip as he punches roof in triumph

The image of the last four years of English rugby has been the grimace on Martin Johnson’s face as the latest sin committed by one of his players has sunk in.

Stuart Lancaster cut a more measured figure on Saturday.

It was the biggest day of his life but the adopted Yorkshireman stood up and took everything the rugby Gods could throw at him.

England’s interim head coach even smashed a ceiling light as he punched the air in delight as Charlie Hodgson scored what turned out to be the decisive try of the Calcutta Cup.

All the emotion that had been bottling up inside of Lancaster since he assumed control of an England squad in disarray, burst out of him uncontrollably.

He may not have admitted it afterwards but this was a day when Lancaster arrived on the Test match stage.

He had every right to be chuffed with himself.

It was not an easy afternoon, and not an easy 80 minutes to watch unfold.

Lancaster stood emotionless in the coaches’ booth in the minutes before kick-off, in the lead up to the most important sporting period of his life.

All eyes were on the former Leeds player, coach and Wakefield schoolteacher, who now holds the highest office in the English game.

He stood drinking in the final minutes before his game of reckoning with hands on hips, letting the enormity of the task ahead wash over him.

A smile crept onto his face as his players took to the field and he belted out ‘God Save the Queen’ with all the passion of a punter in the stands with a pint in his hands.

The ebb and flow of this centuries-old rivalry barely drew emotion across the interim head coach’s face.

There was no desk beating, alla the Johnson reign.

Even when Owen Farrell stepped up to take a straightfoward penalty to give England the lead midway through the first half, Lancaster was to be found not in his customary position at the window’s edge, but sat in a chair, his head in his notebook.

Hodgson’s devine intervention finally blew the mercury on Lancaster’s calm exterior.

And when Greig Laidlaw’s touchdown was adjudged no try, Lancaster gave the drunken Scottish fan who turned to the coaches’ booth and give him the thumbs down, an impish grin.

When his dominant defence induced Scotland into a penalty that presented Farrell with a chance to seal the game eight minutes from time, Lancaster only clapped his hands together.

The nerve-shredding final moments as Scotland pressed and tripped over themselves were spent with head in hands or in a crouch below the desk.

Finally, the torture over, George Clancy’s whistle sparked an outpouring of relief as Lancaster raised his arms in delight, before embraces with each member of his coaching staff signalled a job well done.

Lancaster reflected afterwards: “I’ve not coached at this level before but I have coached international rugby with the Saxons and a Barbarians game, and lots of games of rugby, and you learn to manage your own personal preparation.

“There was a mixture of apprehension and nerves and excitement beforehand, but, from a coaching point of view, it’s then about helping the team win, making the right decisions at the right time, helping them at half-time.

“It was the first time Andy (Farrell), Graeme (Rowntree) and I had worked together in terms of a game, so it was quite interesting.

“I actually punched the roof and I’ve got some stitches in my finger when Charlie scored. I managed to punch a light!

“But I have a confidence in the players and the environment we have created.”