DAVID SOLE
The coaching re-shuffles continued this past week, with a couple of meaningful appointments in Scotland.
Following Danny Wilson’s move to Glasgow Warriors, John Dalziel has taken over his role with the National team, leaving Dalziel’s vacancy to be filled by Kelly Brown, who is returning to his homeland from Saracens.
Gregor Townsend has also made the appointment of Pieter de Villiers more permanent as Scotland’s scrum coach.
It is great to see Kelly Brown come back to Scotland to further his career in rugby.
A fine player, he has learned his coaching trade at Saracens and will bring some valuable lessons back to Glasgow Warriors from one of the preeminent clubs in the world.
His breadth of experience could prove invaluable.
Meanwhile Dalziel, who has a playing and coaching pedigree which is possibly eclipsed by that of Brown, has replaced Danny Wilson as Scotland’s forwards coach.
The Melrose man had great success at his club and he also spent two years in charge of Scotland’s sevens team before having a single season at Glasgow.
It is great to see two Scottish coaches coming into the domestic set-up, and this must be an inspiration for other Scottish coaches who wish to further their careers within their own country – something that hasn’t always been easy in the past.
The final appointment of De Villiers, however, bucks that trend. But what a difference he has made to the Scottish scrum.
Zander Fagerson has come on leaps and bounds this season and De Villiers must take credit for that – he has turned the young prop into a genuine contender for the Lions next year.
Meanwhile, the 2020-21 season will see the European Cup competitions take on a different format to previous years.
They will feature 24 teams rather than 20 – for one season only – and there will only be four group matches instead of six – two at home and two away.
This will be staged over two weekends in December and another two weekends in January.
There is also a proposal for the quarter-finals to be a two-leg, homeand-away arrangement in April – a measure to compensate for the loss of income from a home match in the group stages of the competitions. The finals are due to take place in late May in Marseille.
It makes for a very-congested calendar of rugby, given that the 201920 season has still to be concluded and there are a number of international commitments to fulfil in the autumn.
Coupled with that, there is a Lions tour to South Africa in the summer.
Doubtless the players will almost be grateful for their enforced and prolonged break from the game due to the pandemic, because they will be busier than ever come 2021.
‘ What a difference De Villiers has made to the Scottish scrum