A WONDER weekend for Scottish rugby got even better last night when the teams, players and coaches all-but swept the board at the Guinness PRO12 end of season awards.
Gregor Townsend was coach of the year and his team, Glasgow Warriors, won the "collision kings award". Edinburgh's Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, was named young player of the year, and there was special recognition for Al Kellock for the part he has played in making Glasgow the team they have become.
The only one of the top awards to escape Scottish clutches was the Players' Player of the Season prize, which went to Rhys Webb of the Ospreys, due recognition of a season that has seen him produce 17 tries for club and country.
For Townsend, it was recognition that his team not only finished top of the table at the end of the regular season but that they did so playing high-tempo, top quality, attractive rugby.
"It is not just a tribute to me, it is one for the club," said the former Scotland international. "We get there because the culture is strong, because the players turn up every day and work hard to improve themselves and their teammates. All credit goes to the players.
"It is a lovely bonus, it is great that fellow coaches have nominated me. When we have nominated a coach we have discussed what the team does as a whole, how they attack, how they defend, who has played well against us.
"That is down to the whole coaching team, the forwards coach, the defence coach, how they work contact - so this reward goes to all of them at Glasgow. It is a reflection of the work my three assistants have done as well as the analysts, medical staff, performance staff and strength and conditioning people."
Townsend was also full or praise for the work Kellock has done to earn his recognition. "He has been invaluable. Five out of six seasons we have made semi finals and Al has been captain for all of them," said the coach. "He has driven a lot of the improvements the club has made culturally while being a very, very good player in his own right.
"There is more to that in the way he prepares the team, the way he talks, the support he gives the coaching group. He has been passionate about the club and cares a lot about it.
"If you have somebody in a position of leadership with all those attributes then you are very fortunate and I have been really fortunate to have him."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article