Townsend nearly quit coaching after stint as Scotland No.2
Glasgow job saved career in dugout for national team boss
GREGOR TOWNSEND has revealed he almost gave up on a coaching career before it had really begun because he did not enjoy his role as Scotland number two.
Now Scotland head coach, Townsend admits he had massive doubts over his move into management – and what he would do with the rest of his life – after retiring as a player in 2007.
After a short while out of the game, the Borderer took up a role with Scotland A before quickly being appointed backs coach under Frank Hadden in time for the 2009 Six Nations and he later became attack coach.
It seemed like an obvious move for one of the nation’s top players but, despite remaining in post beyond the 2011 World Cup, the 47-year-old has confessed it was only his move to become Glasgow Warriors head coach in 2012 that saved him from walking away.
He said: “When I was a player, I struggled at times and when I first made the move into coaching I was retired for about a year and had been working with a sports charity called Winning Scotland Foundation in Edinburgh.
“Then I started coaching one day a week and within about 12 months I was offered an assistant coaching role with Scotland.
“For those two or three years, I didn’t enjoy it, I thought ‘this isn’t for me’, I was struggling.
“I had real questions about what to do with the rest of my life because I wasn’t enjoying coaching. While it’s not an extreme case, it was something that was taking up a lot of my mind and changing me as a person.
“Fortunately, I got a great opportunity to be the head coach at Glasgow and I really enjoyed it – and I love coaching now.”
Townsend has been speaking about mental health to Kris Boyd and Robert Snodgrass, who have partnered their new podcast, The Lockdown Tactics, with the Kris Boyd Charity set up following the suicide of the former’s brother, Scott.
The Scotland coach is keen for rugby to embrace mental health awareness, with former centre Graeme Morrison speaking candidly of his own depression and the likes of current international hooker Fraser Brown also having revealed struggles.
And Townsend, capable of bringing so much joy to Scotland and the British and Irish Lions with the oval ball in his hand, has confessed there were times as a player when he also wrestled with psychological issues.
He added: “When I think back to my playing days, of course there were lots of times when I was struggling.
“I went to play in France for five years and for the first two or three months I was out on my own, my wife was still working in London at the time, and the coach who signed me [Laurent Seigne] suddenly went from being my biggest fan to not liking me any more.
“There was only one other foreigner in the team, who was an Argentinian, so I couldn’t really speak to anybody.
“I was left out of the squad and you feel very lonely and you think ‘what are you doing with your life? This is not enjoyable’.
“These moments come a lot – when you’re coming back from injury and you doubt yourself – and I can only imagine now with social media the pressures and negativity that comes with that.”