COCKERILL BOOST
SRU given fresh hope capital coach will stay as Gloucester turmoil ruins chance of move
EDINBURGH head coach Richard Cockerill has been denied the prospect of a dramatic move to Gloucester because of the continuing management upheaval at the West Country club.
has learned that the former England hooker and longtime Leicester director of rugby was approached by Gloucester last month, in the aftermath of Johan Ackermann’s abrupt exit from his post as head coach.
It is understood that there were around 70 applications to replace the South African, but Cockerill was identified as the No1 target.
However, director of rugby David Humphreys was leading the recruitment effort and he is now also set to leave Kingsholm in a hurry, having apparently failed to convince the club hierarchy of the need to invest in a pedigree external replacement for Ackermann.
Following confirmation that the Ulsterman is on his way out, Rory Teague is widely expected to be promoted to the head coach role as part of a cost-cutting plan, which may also scupper the hopes of Dai Young and Rob Howley.
Cockerill oversaw a long period of success with the Leicester Tigers and has worked wonders on a tight budget at Edinburgh.
He is believed to be under contract with the Scottish Rugby Union until the end of May next year, but all the recent pay cuts within the sport mean that contract terms have been breached, so coaches and players would be free to move on if they wish.
Senior figures at BT Murrayfield are confident he will stay and possibly even sign a contract extension as he is a top contender if they decide to change the Scotland head coach. Interestingly, the contract of Gregor Townsend is up next summer at exactly the same time as Cockerill’s runs out at Edinburgh.
Former Edinburgh player and ex-Gloucester captain Jim Hamilton, who still has very close connections at both clubs said on
‘Gloucester want him and he is talking to them apparently. I don’t know how I see this unfolding.
‘There would be a part of Cockers I imagine that wants to be Robert the Bruce. England till he dies then all of a sudden he is Scottish.
‘He came on here and he was saying “we” as in the Scotland team. Maybe it is no longer “we”. There is talk of him talking to Gloucester.
‘I am sure after the chat around
Gloucester, and the culture around them, they would probably be a bit reluctant to maybe look within because of some of the issues they have got. Cockers will sort that place out for sure, but I don’t want to see it.
‘He has done the Premier League in England, he is killing it in the Pro14 with Edinburgh, the next evolution for him is international. If it’s not England, the “we” for Cockers is Scotland.’
Gloucester chief executive officer Lance Bradley denied Humphreys had left the club because he didn’t get the backing of the board to make a firm bid to the SRU for the Edinburgh head coach.
‘To be clear it was David’s idea to go and he was not pushed out,’ said Bradley. ‘I read the rumours that David wanted this guy as head coach and the rest of the board didn’t. That absolutely isn’t the case. It isn’t the result of a dispute.
‘He just feels that with the direction the club needs to go in, that is it the time for him to move on. He is an honourable man.’