I want to drive Warriors to Euro glory before I start Scotland job, says Gregor
GLASGOW WARRIORS head coach Gregor Townsend insists there is no chance of him switching off in his final year at the club before he takes over Scotland.
Speaking publicly for the first time since he was appointed, he made clear he remained totally focused on going out in a blaze of glory in his final season at Scotstoun and wanted to put the Scotland job ‘in a box’ until then.
After making the Guinness Pro12 play-offs four times in a row — winning the tournament in 2015 — he wants to maintain his record of always finishing in the top four.
He also holds out hopes of becoming the first Glasgow coach to take the club into the knock-out stages of European competition, but in a pool alongside Leicester Tigers, Munster and Racing 92, he accepts it won’t be easy.
Townsend, who will be replaced by Dave Rennie of New Zealand Super Rugby outfit The Chiefs in the summer of 2017, revealed even the Glasgow players had no idea he was leaving until he called a special team meeting on Wednesday, just an hour before the SRU made their announcement.
The Scotland-bound coach also revealed that he had spoken to his successor Rennie over the past few months and gave him a guided tour of Glasgow’s home ground of Scotstoun only a few weeks ago.
‘I’m lucky and grateful to become the next Scotland coach,’ said Townsend at the end of the pre-season match against Harlequins at The Stoop that his team lost 22-17.
‘To get the head coach job at Glasgow four-and-a-bit years ago was a big moment.
‘Now to be given that trust and that responsibility with your country is something I would never have imagined. This year it will be all about working hard and looking forward to the Scotland job when it happens.
‘Until then, I hope we can put the Scotland job in a box now, and that this will be the last time people talk to me about it as I have a big season to prepare for with Glasgow.
‘We’ve got a big job to do here, and the Scotland coaches have got eight Test matches to go through before anything changes.’
Townsend admitted he is glad this week is over so he can concentrate on getting back down to business.
‘It has certainly been a busy week in terms of the announcement, but it now means that everyone knows who’s leaving and who’s coming in, and we can focus on doing really well this year,’ he said.
‘Things happened pretty quickly this week on the Scotland situation. I spoke to the players at lunchtime on Wednesday and it was announced about an hour later.
‘Whatever happens, there is no danger of me not being fully focused on anything else but Glasgow as we have got lots of work to do as we prepare for not just Connacht, but the whole season.
‘I want to finish well with Glasgow and do well in the Pro12 and every year we want to do better in Europe.
‘In my final season at the club, doing well in Europe is a massive driver for us and doing well in the Champions Cup was the first thing the players talked about at the end of the season. Not the fact we’d lost a semi to Connacht, but how next year we had to do better in the bigger games, including European ones. The players are capable of doing that this season.’
Townsend said he had spoken to Rennie over the past few weeks and was delighted that the Glasgow job was going to a top-class coach.
‘I’m really delighted at Dave’s appointment,’ said Townsend. ‘I know Dave and was fortunate enough four-and-a-bit years ago to spend some time with the Chiefs. He was over a couple of years ago and he was over last week again.
‘There are a lot of similarities with the Chiefs and Glasgow. They focus on skills, they play attacking rugby and they’re aggressive in defence. Off the field, the cultural aspect of the Chiefs of working hard and wanting to get better, we have that in this group and he’ll inherit a really good group of players.
‘He’s got a big job to do as well, but Super Rugby doesn’t start until January so I’d imagine this period, up until November, is when we’ll do a lot of our talking with players about contracts.
‘As well as telling the players I was going to Scotland, I also told them Dave was taking over and the reaction was very positive.
‘His appointment has gone down well with the group.’