Big changes off pitch added to coaching revamp
WITH three major coaching changes in a week, talk of tearing up the business model to bring in outside investors, and the prospect of becoming the first top-flight rugby governing body in the world to elect a female president, yesterday’s annual meeting of the Scottish Rugby Union could prove to be a pivotal one.
The Murrayfield meeting came at the end of a week in which it was announced that Vern Cotter will leave as Scotland head coach at the end of the season, to be replaced by Gregor Townsend, who will move from Glasgow Warriors, with Dave Rennie coming from New Zealand to take over at Scotstoun.
It may have looked rushed, but according to Mark Dodson, the union’s chief executive, the shuffle has been brewing for a while, and was sparked into life when Rennie agreed to sign.
“We had looked at this for a good period of time,” Dodson said. “Once we made the decision, we had to start with Glasgow and make sure we could replace Gregor [Townsend] with a high-quality candidate.
“He [Rennie] believes he is inheriting a good squad, there is a brand new surface to play on and his team [the Chiefs] play a fast offloading game similar to Glasgow’s.
“He is smitten by the ambition we have and we owe the supporters at the Warriors the best person we could find.”
The big doubts are about what is happening at national level, with Cotter clearly feeling he was doing a good job. “Vern is a pragmatic, professional guy,” said Dodson. “He believes there is more in this team, more to come out of the current squad, but the guy is a professional and a guy of great integrity.
“He just said, ‘I understand why you are going for a Scotsman, but I am focused on the Six Nations and the Autumn Tests’. That is how I left it with him.”
The underlying motivation had been to get Townsend into the top job as quickly as possible. “Our conversations with Gregor were around the fact that he is very clear he is ready and wants to do the job now,” Dodson added. “He feels it is the right time. We also feel it is the right time for him.”
The AGM itself was straightforward for Dodson , who said the union was in a healthy state financially but warned the meeting that bigger challenges lie ahead and he was busy looking at ways of restructuring the organisation to make it easier to bring in outside investors.
Dee Bradbury from Oban Lorne won the election for vice-president on the first ballot, meaning she will automatically be elevated to the top job in two years – the first woman to hold that post in any leading union in the world, said Dodson.