‘Scotland jokes upset me’

VERN COTTER has revealed he took the Scotland job because it upset him to hear the national team constantly having the ‘mickey’ taken out of them. A great admirer of Scotland rugby sides from the past, the Kiwi felt he could restore their reputation and has duly done so during his two-and-a-half-years at the helm. As he prepares to lead them into the Six Nations for the last time before being replaced by Gregor Townsend, Cotter has admitted in an interview that he grew tired of the barbs being tossed in Scotland’s direction during his time as head coach at Clermont Auvergne. ‘One of the key factors for me to take over was that people in France would take the mickey out of Scotland and its rugby and it sort of upset me,’ he told BBC Scotland. ‘That showed itself in many ways before the Six Nations when everybody would take a sweepstake and Scotland was always last pick along with Italy. ‘Neil McIlroy was our Scotsman from Jedburgh at Clermont and he was always supporting Scotland fervently and got a bit of a hard time. ‘I’d watched Scotland playing, the spirit they had, the way they played the game. I always loved watching them and then when everyone was laughing at them over the sweepstake I was thinking: “I’d like to see those guys get a bit of pride back in their game and get a bit of a smile back on their faces”. ‘When the opportunity arose I thought it was one of those things that was meant to happen. ‘It is a great rugby country and I remember the 1990s with Scotland coming to New Zealand in that summer when they should have beaten the All Blacks. ‘When we first came together as a squad we looked at some footage of those days. They were brave, confident warriors. ‘Trying to bring that back to Scotland was one of the key things. ‘Scotland has a proud history,’ added Cotter, who will join Montpellier in the summer. ‘It’s a humble country and a place you can become attached to very quickly.’