GREGOR Townsend will take charge of the Scottish backs in the 2009 RBS Six Nations Championship after being named a new assistant coach by Frank Hadden.
Hadden operated as the main backs coach in his first years as Scotland coach, but during last year's RBS Six Nations Championship Sean Lineen, the Glasgow coach, stepped in to help Hadden with the back division. When Alan Tait and George Graham were
stood down at the end of another disappointing championship, as defence and forwards coaches respectively, Lineen and Andy Robinson joined Hadden as backs and forwards specialists for the Argentina tour.
They swiftly returned to their roles with Glasgow and Edinburgh and the SRU appointed Mike Brewer, the former All Black flanker, and rugby league cap Graham Steadman as forwards and defence specialists, with Lineen helping through the autumn Tests. However, while Lineen and Robinson will work with the 'A' team this year, both insisted they need to focus on their clubs' progress through the spring, so Hadden has turned to former Scotland fly-half Townsend for help with the backs coaching.
He said: "Gregor has already made a considerable impact in working with the players at Edinburgh and Scotland A and the support he has championed for players through the Winning Scotland Foundation's mentoring programme underlines the appetite from elite players for the experience and technical guidance that he brings. I think it is significant too with all Gregor's experience as a player that he will be able to offer one-on-one advice to Scotland players and that insight can only be valuable especially in the year of a British and Irish Lions tour."
It has been a rapid rise for Townsend, which perhaps highlights the lack of top-class backs coaches operating in Scotland, and some will question his experience as a hands-on coach. There are, however, few people around with his experience from a career in the vanguard of professional rugby in England, Australia, France, Scotland and South Africa.
In an 82-Test career stretching from 1993 to 2003, Townsend scored 17 tries, matching the record of 1925 Grand Slam centre Johnnie Wallace by scoring a try in each of Scotland's Five Nations Championship matches en route to the last title a decade ago. He had played a key role in the British and Irish Lions' last Test series win, in South Africa in 1997, and was awarded the MBE in 1999 for services to rugby, but his Scotland career came to an abrupt and controversial end.
His last appearance was in the 2003 Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Australia as Matt Williams took over as coach from Ian McGeechan and told the then 30-year-old he would not select him, as part of an approach to blood younger players. That move was kept secret until after Hadden replaced Williams and asked Townsend to return two years later, the stand-off then explaining why he had 'retired'. Injury prevented him from coming into Hadden's selection plans, but the coach clearly wants his expertise now.
Townsend left the game in 2007 to join the Winning Scotland Foundation as a programme manager.
He has developed his coaching career working a day a week with Robinson and Rob Moffat at Edinburgh, completing his Level 2 coaching qualification with the RFU – the SRU did not operate the course at the time – and, along with other leading ex-players and coaches, is currently working towards his level 3 coaching badge with the SRU. He also spent a week with Super 14 side Queensland Reds last May.
The 35-year-old joined Robinson in coaching the Scotland A team against Georgia in Glasgow in November, and the SRU confirmed yesterday that he had accepted an invitation by Hadden to join the full side's coaching set-up, on what is effectively a two-month secondment from the Winning Scotland Foundation.
Townsend admitted he was surprised at the speed with which his coaching career had progressed, but stated: "I'm delighted to have been invited by Frank Hadden to become backs coach for this year's Six Nations.
"I can't wait to get started working with the players and the challenge of getting them to perform consistently at their best level. I am also hugely appreciative of the role Winning Scotland Foundation has played in allowing me to take this opportunity. Working with such a dynamic organisation that is encouraging positive cultural change through sport has struck a chord with its innovative and challenging approach to coaching practices.
Graham Watson, executive director of Winning Scotland Foundation, confirmed that they were happy to release Townsend for the championship. He said: "As the director of our Winning Performance programme, Gregor's coaching role with the Scotland team fits very well with Winning Scotland Foundation's long-term aim of having a nation that wants to succeed at everything.
"Helping Scots to achieve success on the world stage and become role models who can inspire, encourage, motivate and educate other young Scots is a key element of the Foundation's vision.
"Over the past 18 months we have developed an excellent partnership with the SRU, collaborating on world-class initiatives around mentoring emerging talented athletes and developing the mental skills of young rugby players. In both of these initiatives, together with today's announcement, our objective is to demonstrate the benefits of innovative thinking which can then be extended to other sports.
"We are delighted to be supporting Gregor's work with Frank Hadden and wish the Scotland team every success in the upcoming RBS 6 Nations."
The selection of Townsend perhaps owes as much to his relations and respect among current internationalists as it does his technical knowledge, but it says much for Hadden's eagerness to embrace the skills around him and help share the load.
Both signal a shift in his thinking, but even if that stems from a sense of self-preservation after a tough 12 months, it is a positive move that could help Scotland's bid to improve on a record of just one win in each of the last two championships.
The Borderer has long stated a desire to move into coaching and this appointment, following on from those of Craig Chalmers, Graham Shiel and Tom Smith to roles with Scotland age-grade teams, points to a refreshing and vital enthusiasm to utilise the unique knowledge and skills of recently-retired players.
The full article contains 1073 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
