I will bring Catalonia to Caledonia
I watched Guardiola train Barca into a machine that turned defence into attack in three seconds and I want that for Scots
GREGOR TOWNSEND yesterday revealed Pep Guardiola is his coaching hero and plans to use his methods for his country. The Scotland rugby supremo admitted his huge admiration for the Manchester City guru as he stepped up preparations for his first home-turf showdown. Toony’s troops square up to Samoa at Murrayfeld in next month’s Autumn Test series opener before facing world champions New Zealand and Australia. And the former Glasgow chief said Guardiola is an inspiration to him. Townsend said: “My aim is to create a Scotland team full of work-rate, energy and speed. “Defence and work-rate defines winning teams. People watch Guardiola’s attack more than his defence. But at Barcelona he had a rule to win back the ball quickly. They started at seven seconds and then it went down to three.
“I visited Barcelona a few years back and they had these drills to regain possession quickly. What people see are the great passes and the goals.
“What we don’t see is how they got the ball in the first place. Defence is linked to the attack.”
Townsend, who guided Glasgow to the Pro12 crown three seasons ago, added: ”You’ve got to build a game plan that helps you win games.
“If the laws of the game and the strength of the personnel meant having to kick and defend then I would probably – reluctantly – do that.
“But the strength of the Scottish team is work-rate, energy and speed.
“The laws just now have opened up to help attacks so that is a massive part of winning games.”
Townsend booted out the commonly held view Scotland have failed to compete at the top level because we are such a small nation.
He said: “We have advantages. We can identify our best players easier and get them to a pro-team environment quicker. We are making that advantage count by encouraging much more attacking rugby at age-group level now.
“Players now look to offload rather than kick and at a younger level they are not worried about the scoreboard.”
Townsend also underlined the need to harvest more qualified talent outside Scotland.
He said: “There are more and more top-quality players coming through – from families who have moved to England. We have to make sure we are aware of them.”
My aim is to create a Scotland team full of work-rate, energy and speed TOWNSEND