Taylor pleased to join Townsend in Scotland switch

MATT TAYLOR has spoken of his delight at the prospect of resuming his Glasgow Warriors coaching role with Gregor Townsend for Scotland. It was confirmed yesterday that, when Townsend replaces Vern Cotter as head coach, he will be joined by Taylor and Dave McFarland, who look after defence and forwards respectively. Cotter’s assistants, Jason O’Halloran and Jonathan Humphreys, will move in the opposite direction to work with new Glasgow head coach Dave Rennie. ‘Gregor and I have known each other for a long time and have a good understanding of each other’s coaching principles and philosophies,’ said Taylor. ‘The chance to work with him over the past five years at Glasgow has been great and I’m pleased that’s set to continue. ‘We’ve had some success and hope to bring that to the national team.’ Scotland attack coach O’Halloran, meanwhile, has a long association with Rennie, including a spell looking after the New Zealand Under-20s. ‘It’s fantastic to get the opportunity to work with Dave again,’ said O’Halloran. ‘It’s been five years since we worked together and he’s done a great job at the Chiefs. ‘I’ve worked with some of the Glasgow squad already and have a good relationship with them. ‘There is some really good, young talent at Scotstoun and excellent players throughout the squad.’ Meanwhile, Scotland stars Tommy Seymour and Peter Horne are set to return from injury when Glasgow face Treviso at Scotstoun tonight. Warriors will look to return to winning ways after last weekend’s defeat to Munster in Europe, with Townsend including two recent signings, American back-row Langilangi Haupeakui, and New Zealand lock Brian Alainu’uese, in his squad. The challenge is to forget about last week,’ said the Glasgow head coach. ‘It’s been a chastening but important learning experience for us.’