Vern Cotter, Scotland’s head coach, will move to Montpellier next season when his current contract expires, according to reports in France. Montpellier’s present coach, the former Springboks boss Jake White, is said to be about to quit the club.

Cotter has been linked with several impending vacancies in French rugby, including Toulon, since it was announced in the summer that he would be allowed to leave Murrayfield at the end of his current deal. He was coach at Clermont for eight years from 2006, and saw out the last year of his contract there after agreeing terms with Scottish Rugby.

It is as yet unclear who will coach Montpellier for the rest of the season should White leave immediately. French sources have suggested that his relationship with the club owners never recovered after it was revealed he had been in contact with the Rugby Football Union when the departure of Stuart Lancaster meant there was a vacancy at the top of the English national team - a vacancy that was subsequently filled by Eddie Jones.

Gregor Townsend will succeed Cotter as Scotland coach next June, while Dave Rennie, Cotter’s fellow-New-Zealander, will take over from Townsend at Glasgow. Alan Solomons’ contract as Edinburgh coach also expires next summer, but there has as yet been no announcement about a successor.