WARREN Gatland, the newly appointed head coach of the British and Irish Lions for next summer’s Test series in New Zealand, has said that Gregor Townsend could only join his coaching team by opting out of Scotland’s tour to Australia.

The dates of Scotland’s matches in a four-team tournament also expected to involve Fiji and Italy have yet to be finalised, but there is sure to be an overlap with the Lions, whose tour consists of ten games, including Tests against the All Blacks on 24 June and 1 and 8 July. Gatland is some way off deciding on his coaching team, to be announced on 7 December, but he made it clear yesterday that he will expect every member of it to be committed to the full tour.

“If it was someone like him, he wouldn’t be going with Scotland,” Gatland said when asked about Townsend, who takes over from Vern Cotter as national coach next June. “I haven’t spoken to anybody at the moment about the coaches [or] support team. There’s a number of top people in contention.

“There has been a lot of talk about how tough the tour is going to be, and for us the important thing is continuity. Be up and running as quickly as you possibly can. I think some fresh faces as well will have some positive impact.”

Scottish Rugby will not be drawn on the issue unless and until Townsend were offered a position and said he wanted to take it. If he missed Scotland’s tour his hands-on involvement with the squad would not be until November, and, for all the allure of the Lions, it would appear difficult to make such a long delay to his start in a new post.

Gatland did, however, say he would consider both Cotter and Richie Gray, who was re-appointed this week to the Scotland coaching team, but only until the end of the Six Nations. “I’m not sure what Vern’s situation is,” Gatland added. “What’s he doing after the Six Nations - is he going back to France, is he going back to New Zealand? I think you’d like to take support staff who, post their Lions experiences, are staying in the Northern Hemisphere.

“I spoke to someone the other day that said that Richie was going to potentially put his name forward. I haven’t spoken to Richie. The next few months are about potentially putting a list of people together then looking at their circumstances then starting to chat to them.”