Cotter returns to France

SCOTLAND head coach Vern Cotter will return to the French Top 14 with Montpellier next season.

Montpellier, the European Challenge Cup holders, confirmed in a post on the official club website that 54-year-old New Zealander Cotter will arrive for the 2017-2018 campaign.

Cotter will replace South African Jake White, whose Montpellier contract expires next June.

Cotter, who coached Clermont Auvergne to the 2010 Top 14 title, has been at the helm in Scotland since 2014, but it had already been announced that he would be succeeded at the end of this season by Gregor Townsend.

“The arrival of Vern Cotter for the 2017/2018 season, should help, too, to write a new chapter in the history of MHR [Montpellier] and continue to grow,” the club said.