AT LAST, more than three months after Gregor Townsend was announced as the next Scotland coach, we have some clarity on when precisely he will take over.
Officially the date when the Glasgow Warriors coach succeeds Vern Cotter has always been next June, but until yesterday it was unclear whether Townsend would lead Scotland on their tour to Australia in the summer of 2017 or whether he would be next door in New Zealand as part of the British and Irish Lions coaching team.
In the past when asked about the possibility of working with Lions head coach Warren Gatland, Townsend had insisted the issue was hypothetical as there had been no contact. That changed, however, in the past couple of weeks, when Gatland invited him to be one of his attack coaches - probably second in command in that department to Rob Howley, although Townsend himself declined yesterday to saw what the precise offer was.
Whatever its nature, the offer had to be attractive to a man who played for the Lions on the successful 1997 tour to South Africa and who recognises the composite team as the apex of Northern Hemisphere rugby. But, after giving it some thought, he decided he should begin his Scotland coaching career in a hands-on capacity rather than appointing a deputy.
“I would say my first priority in the Scotland job is to work with the players as soon as I can,” Townsend said yesterday after refusing to say whether his contract as Scotland coach had a Lions release clause. “We have an exciting tour to Australia that will be three to four weeks of coaching time with the players. It’s probably the equivalent of the build-up to the World Cup. That’s the No 1 priority.”
There is an overlap between the Lions tour and Scotland’s games against Italy, Australia and Fiji, meaning some of Townsend’s players could easily be called up by Gatland in the event of injury to original picks. There will also be a Scottish representation in that original party, of course, and Townsend suggested that Gatland and his assistants would keep him abreast of the form those players are in.
“I would like to hope, with the relationship we have with Warren and other guys that might be on the coaching staff, there might be communication on how the Scotland players are going, and part of that how the Glasgow players are going. I would hope there will be some Scotland players on tour.
“We’re only a couple of hours away. Lions tour are pretty attritional and I would imagine players from all countries will be in line to be called up. Whether I have the time to go out there and see part of the tour, we’ll see.”
Having clarified the next phase of his career, Townsend can put that issue behind him and concentrate solely on the Warriors as they approach a critical phase of their season. The Champions Cup double-header against Racing 92 is in the offing, but before that there is tonight’s PRO12 match at home to Munster.
Glasgow have lost their last two games in the league and are now fifth in the table, but they were without their Scotland players then, whereas they are able to welcome back nine members of Cotter’s Autumn Tests squad, plus Tongan international prop Sila Puafisi, for the visit of the league leaders. Stuart Hogg, Finn Russell and Jonny Gray are rested, but Tommy Seymour and Ryan Wilson are among the first-choice players to return.
“Already at training the level this week has been better than last - the amount of players coming back has helped with that,” Townsend added. “The players have been here since Monday and are fully committed, especially those guys who have come back from international rugby.
“We have a big game this week and some big games coming up over the next few weeks, so we have to take care of the management of players for the games against Racing. Tommy [Seymour] didn’t play the first Test and having spoken to him he’s physically in a good place, so we can see him being available for this game and the next two. We have to manage our resources carefully to ensure we have the best possible team we can put out in the next few weeks.”
Glasgow Warriors (v Munster at Scotstoun, tonight, 7.35pm): P Murchie; R Hughes, N Grigg, M Bennett, T Seymour; P Horne, A Price; G Reid, F Brown, S Puafisi, T Swinson, R Harley, J Strauss, C Fusaro, R Wilson. Substitutes: C Flynn, A Allan, D Rae, R McAlpine, L Haupeakui, N Kenatale, R Clegg, L Jones.
Munster: A Conway; D Sweetnam, J Taute, R Scannell, R O'Mahony; I Keatley, D Williams; D Kilcoyne, N Scannell, J Ryan, J Kleyn, B Holland, P O'Mahony, T O'Donnell, J O'Donoghue. Substitutes: R Marshall, T du Toit, S Archer, D Ryan, R Copeland, T Toma, D Goggin, A Wootton.
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