THE Vern Cotter LEGACY
He has been very good for Scottish rugby and has given the team belief, says Telfer Performances have just got better and better but the best is yet to come, insists Chalmers
THAT rarity of a successful Scotland coach, Vern Cotter’s departure has been met with unique disappointment. But his legacy and the arrival of Gregor Townsend may be the perfect blend for a brighter future. That is the hope of the Scotland coach with whom Cotter has been regularly compared, Jim Telfer, and the man Townsend used to battle for the Scotland No 10 jersey, Craig Chalmers.
The duo were at the heart of Scotland’s last Grand Slam successes and, as Cotter prepares to take his leave after less than three years in the hotseat, they agree that as bizarre as it is to be talking about Scotland firing a successful coach, it will not be a cause for national mourning.
Telfer stated: ‘Vern Cotter has been good for Scottish rugby and I think he will leave a legacy that we will see in these players in the next few years because this is a young team that is still to reach its potential.
‘He will be disappointed that that’s it for him, as any coach would be, because he would want to take them on and see them reach their potential. I don’t know the ins and outs of the decision, but at any other time we’d be saying it’s great to see a young Scottish coach coming through.
‘Gregor now has the chance to take it on and I think when you put together what Vern has given these players, tactically, skill-wise and in terms of belief, and the enthusiasm and approach Gregor will bring, you’re looking at a bright future.’
Few Scottish coaches manage to leave a genuine legacy but the manner in which players, young and experienced, speak of what they have learned from Cotter suggests that he will.
Chalmers admitted: ‘His first season wasn’t great but since then the players and performances have just got better and better, so he will be a big loss.
‘Many of us would have liked to see Vern take the team through to the World Cup in 2019 because I agree with Jim that the best is yet to come, but I understand why the SRU didn’t want Gregor to leave Scotland. He has done really well with Glasgow, so you have to say good luck to them both.’
The quiet, guarded New Zealander is in many ways the antithesis of Telfer, yet he has brought a positive feel to Scottish rugby arguably not felt in the game since the Borderer and Ian McGeechan were in their pomp.
Telfer’s era, from 1984 to 1999, remains Scotland’s most successful, with two Grand Slams, two Triple Crowns, three Five Nations titles, wins over Australia and South Africa, and a World Cup semi-final appearance.
But Cotter has breathed life into Scotland’s struggles with the professional era. That he came within a whisker of the World Cup’s last four in 2015 may prove to be his greatest legacy as most of the current squad were involved and the bitter lessons learned then are already evident in late wins. So, without any big silverware to show off, what has the 55-year-old actually achieved?
His permanent predecessor — Scott Johnson was an interim appointment only extended when Clermont Auvergne refused to release Cotter in 2013 — Andy Robinson left under the dark cloud of defeat to Tonga, but their records are not hugely different.
Robinson won 15, lost 19 and drew one. It has not been plain sailing for Cotter, registering just five wins in 14 Six Nations games but, overall, he has steered Scotland to 19 victories, 17 defeats and no draws.
Ten of the defeats were within a converted score, underlining a significant closing of the gap on all opposition. Bar one, of course.
Last week’s 61-21 loss at Twickenham sits like a dead badger in a road of otherwise smoothing consistency and will no doubt have Cotter screaming at the Montpellier moon for some time. But he departs as Scotland’s first successful coach of the professional era, with that rarity of more wins than losses, and a 53-per-cent success rate.
Telfer managed a 55-per-cent figure over 75 games through his periods either in charge or alongside McGeechan, and while he had regular tours to the big three to negotiate — absent from Scotland’s calendar in the past decade — in his 39 games as head coach he managed only 49-per-cent success.
While deepening Scotland’s talent pool with nearly 30 new internationalists, Cotter also lifted Scotland to fifth in the World Rugby rankings, their highest ever — and comparable with the 1980s, before rankings were introduced — and so ensuring a place in the second pot of seeds for the 2019 World Cup.
The rankings are a moveable feast but that is a markedly different place to the 12th spot, and pool exit gloom, of 2011.
The turnaround is clearly not all down to Cotter. Robinson and every predecessor would have loved to have Stuart Hogg, Huw Jones, Finn Russell and Jonny and Richie Gray at their disposal, not to mention injured tighthead WP Nel.
With tries having been the most significant breakthrough under the Kiwi, with record tallies of 11 in last season’s championship bettered by 14 in this one — remember the barren days of Chris Paterson and Dan Parks trying to win games with kicks? — the emergence of genuine pacy finishers to join Tim Visser has been a godsend. Even in defeat, last week was only the second time since 1999 that Scotland had scored three tries at Twickenham.
Cotter is first to praise his assistant coaches Matt Taylor, Jason O’Halloran, Jonathan Humphreys and Nathan Hines — not to mention last week’s busy medics — and the balance of credit is impossible to define, but Telfer is convinced of Cotter’s influence.
‘A good squad of players in Scotland are now the measure of most of the world’s top teams and have genuine belief on the international stage,’ he said. ‘Some of that has come from Glasgow with Gregor and Sean Lineen before him, but Cotter has taken it on to Test level, which is much harder in Scotland than some probably realise.
‘He has been able to pick out strengths in Scottish players: doggedness, loyalty and a bit of invention. He is a hard taskmaster, which Scottish players need. We are always having to punch above our weight on the international stage and have to play at our best as a team. If players drop a bit, we are not competitive.
‘We saw that at Twickenham. Last week was embarrassing, gutless and I thought we’d got rid of that, but at the same time England were trying to prove to themselves they could be what the All Blacks are — ruthless.
‘We have greater belief but Scotland will always have dips, so you need a strong character as coach to demand high standards and maintain them to get more highlights. He is a big man with a strong personality, not a man you want to argue with, which hasn’t been the case with some coaches, and I like the fact that Vern has made players realise how much of a privilege it is to wear the Scotland jersey — and to win in it.
‘It was easy for me, in comparison, in that I had played for Scotland and grew up in Scotland, so I knew from the beatings we took and the occasional wins what motivated players and how they could switch off, or lose belief.
‘I had been on Lions tours where the Scots and Irish came together because they were just glad to be
The team again have the nation behind them thanks to Vern’s efforts
there whereas the English and Welsh believed they deserved to be there.
‘He had to work that out, get under the Scottish character. There are comparisons with New Zealand but they have many more players, better skilled and with greater game understanding.
‘Coaching Scotland is a unique challenge and it’s been interesting watching Vern change his approach from Clermont Auvergne, which he had to because he was dealing with very different players. He’s done that and got the best out of most of them.’
Greig Laidlaw, an unfortunate bystander for much of Cotter’s last championship due to injury, is not one for hyperbole. Yet he speaks glowingly of Cotter’s researching of Scotland teams of the past before presenting to the players on the pride, passion and fast style of rugby — the ‘Scottish way’ — he wanted them to develop.
He has not always got it right, with his infamous camp with French marines spent on a cold mountainside with fresh rabbit for dinner not winning over all of his players, but there is a togetherness in this squad not apparent in some previous ones.
Cotter, who it is known interviewed well for the British & Irish Lions head-coach role — they were always taking Warren Gatland — backed up his words with clear game-plans, from more consistent and dynamic set-piece, defence and go-forward to a slicker attack exploiting the back-line strengths and showing an astute eye for opposition weakness.
He was helped by Glasgow’s success and the players’ own ability to set new standards of skill and strength.
But if players’ skills were brought into camp, alongside belief he developed a new composure and rugby intelligence — that ability to make the right decisions under pressure that has so often let Scotland down in big games.
Chalmers admitted: ‘There is an edge about the team now. The players all speak very highly of him, with real respect, maybe fear — like we still do of Telfer.
‘His first year wasn’t great but since then the team has improved and improved, and he leaves Scotland in good shape, with new confidence and a lot of positives for Gregor to build on.’
Telfer added: ‘One other important legacy of Vern’s time is that they again have the nation behind them. Roy Laidlaw said to me this week that he felt the Murrayfield crowd was fantastic again this year — people enjoying what they’re seeing and loving being there.
‘That is something this team and Vern Cotter have brought back to us.’
Cotter has been a hard taskmaster, which Scotland players need