Townsend signs new deal – then admits: We need to improve a lot
● Backroom team also rewarded in vote of confidence
Gregor Townsend has stressed the need for “a lot of improvement” after being rewarded for a largely successful first 14 months as Scotland’s national rugby coach with a one-year contract extension. Townsend will now be at the helm until 2021, taking him halfway through the next World Cup cycle.
After winning nine of his 14 Tests since replacing Vern Cotter last June, Townsend and his coaching team have been handed new deals. Defence coach Matt Taylor, who had been linked with jobs including the vacant spot in Eddie Jones’s England set-up, has signed a three-year deal which will take his time with Scotland to a decade following his dual role with Glasgow Warriors.
Former Scotland scrum-half and captain Mike Blair will continue in his skills coach post until 2020, with new Welsh forwards coach Danny Wilson poised to replace Dan Mcfarland, who is set to become Ulster head coach, although the SRU is currently standing firm that the Englishman serves his contract until January.
Townsend said: “It’s a huge privilege to coach the national team. It’s great I can continue that. I really enjoyed last season. There is a lot of work to do in the future but I am delighted I am going to be involved for another couple of years.”
Under Townsend, Scotland have enjoyed two notable victories over Australia, in Sydney and a tB T Murrayfield, six nations triumphs against England and France, and a 44-15 win in Argentina in their most recent game. Lows have included a hiding by Wales in this year’s Six Nations opener and tour losses in Fiji and the United
States. Townsend added: “There’s certainly a lot of improvement to be found – both from us as coaches and also our playing performances – but we’ve also seen some excellent displays over the past season, as well as a genuine desire from the players to give their best for their country.
“I’ve been really pleased with the way the squad has come together whenever we’ve been in camp. The players have built strong relationships with each other, trained with intensity and learned quickly after any setbacks we have faced. They have also been terrific ambassadors for their country on tours or whenever they have interacted with our supporters.”
SRU chief executive Mark Dodson said: “I was convinced that Gregor was going to make an outstanding head coach for Scotland and we’re delighted to have secured his services for the next three years, at a very exciting time for Scottish rugby.
“It was also important to maintain the high level continuity created with the other world-class coaches within the national team set-up in Matt Taylor and Mike Blair and I’m very pleased they will continue to work alongside Gregor through to, and beyond, Rugby World Cup 2019.”
Statistics never tell the whole story of course but the fact Scotland have averaged four tries a Test since Gregor Townsend took over as national coach last summer is of the more revealing kind.
There were times in the not so distant past when it was, or at least felt like, one try every four Tests and it is an indicator of the positive, entertaining and, in the main successful, brand of rugby which has carried Scotland to nine wins in 14 Tests. That has been deemed good enough for the SRU to award the coach a oneyear extension to his contract, which will take him through to 2021.
Taking over a side on the up and benefitting from the strong foundations put in place by his predecessor Vern Cotter, pictured, Townsend has pushed the team on and the highs are easy to pick out, starting with the thrilling dismantling of England in this year’s Calcutta Cup, but also including wins over Australia, both in Sydney and an astonishing eight-try rout of the Wallabies at BT Murrayfield, and a Six Nations win over France.
Townsend was the first to stress the need for improvement in his remarks yesterday and there are no prizes for identifying the pressing, though not new, need to improve performances and results away from a Murrayfield home which is regaining its long lost reputation as an intimidating fortress.
Just five months ago an ashen-faced and visibly shaken Townsend faced the media after watching his muchhyped side being torn apart by a streetwise Wales side in the Principality Stadium.
The home wins over France and England rescued the Six Nations campaign but then came, despite improvement from Cardiff, another decisive loss in Dublin and a close win in Rome which was decidedly shaky at times.
After that defeat to eventual Grand Slam winners Ireland, who the Scots meet in their World Cup Pool A opener on 22 September next year, Townsend admitted his squad were three years behind the now world No 2 side and tasked his players with closing that gap in the 18 months that remained before that Yokohama crunch.
“We are three or four years behind Ireland in terms of what they’ve done and achieved in there experiences over the last few years,” said Townsend back in March at the Aviva Stadium.
“We need to make sure that when we have these experiences that are tough, it goes into our work to improve. We play Ireland next year in the Six Nations and we will play them in 18 months at the World Cup and we need to make sure we are a better team when we play them.”
That match, which is now just 13 Tests away, is shaping as the defining moment of the Townsend era. Defeat would leave the Scots facing a potentially tense, do-or-die clash with fired-up hosts Japan in the final pool match.
Whatever eye-catching play and rousing wins are to come under Townsend, a failure to progress from the
0 Gregor Townsend knows Scotland need to improve performances and results away from home.
GREGOR TOWNSEND group stages in the Far East next autumn would be hugely deflating. Townsend was a player who liked things on the edge and he is clearly relishing the challenges which now lie ahead. “It is a rollercoaster,”
Townsend said of his time so far leading his country. “There’s been some great highs. Being out here at the end of the game against England this year was fantastic – the atmosphere in the ground, the joy on the supporters’ faces, the players’ as well, the effort they put in, the satisfaction they got from winning.”
There will be satisfaction too that key lieutenants Matt Taylor and Mike Blair have also been given extensions, while new forwards coach Danny Wilson is poised to replace Ulster-bound Dan Mcfarland at the end of the year, or earlier, if a deal can be struck with the Irish side to
release Mcfarland from his SRU contract.
Defence coach Taylor said: “It’s a role and a job that I’m really passionate about. Scottish Rugby has been really good to me and my family over the years and you want to back up and perform for an organisation of people who have looked after you.”
Skills coach Blair added: “The playing group we have is hugely exciting and fully understands the positive, attacking game we want to, and can, play which makes coaching them a real pleasure. There is a lot of hard work ahead and I’m really looking forward to seeing what this group can achieve.” 1973: Born in Galashiels.
1993: Made his full Scotland debut aged just 19 away to England at Twickenham in the Five Nations. He came off the bench in a 26-12 defeat.
1993: Played a season abroad in Australia for Warringah in the Shute Shield.
1995: On cap No 8, following six losses and a draw, Townsend secured his first win in a Scotland shirt in a 22-6 home victory over Canada.
1995: The ‘Toonie Flip’ was born, the pass setting Gavin Hastings up for a try against France in Paris in the Five Nations victory.
1995: Missed the World Cup in South Africa with a serious knee injury.
1995: Joined Northampton Saints in England.
1996: Played for the Barbarians against Australia at Twickenham.
1997: Went on the British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa with fellow Scot Ian Mcgeechan at the helm.
1998: Moved to Brive in France.
1999: Scored tries in every match as Scotland won the last ever Five Nations title.
1999: Played in every game for Scotland in the World Cup in the UK as they lost in the last eight to New Zealand in Dublin.
2000: Stayed in France playing his club rugby, but moved to Castres.
2002: Moved to Border Reivers.
2003: Played in his second World Cup in Australia.
2003: Made his last of 82 Scotland appearances against Australia.
2004: Moved to Montpellier.
2005: Coaching journey began as a player/coach with the Border Reivers.
2008: Became Scotland ‘A’ assistant coach.
2009: Began a stint as a Scotland assistant coach which ran until 2012.
2012: Took up the reins as head coach at Glasgow Warriors, reaching the Pro12 playoffs in his first season.
2014: His Warriors side lost in the Pro12 final to Leinster.
2015: Won the Pro12 title with the Warriors.
2017: Took up the Scotland head coach role after five years at Scotstoun.
2017: Won his first game in charge, 34-13 against Italy in Singapore.
2018: His side defeated England in the Six Nations at BT Murrayfield, finishing third in the championship after three wins from five.
“We need to make sure that when we have these experiences that are tough, it goes into our work to improve”