KEVIN FERRIE IN THE HERALD

Edinburgh may finally have assembled their coaching team but at least as important was the addition to the Glasgow Warriors coaching squad of Kenny Murray, formerly the head coach of Ayr.

Kenny Murray, who won two premiership titles and three Scottish Cups with Ayr, will bring his winning mentality to Glasgow Warriors.
Kenny Murray, who won two premiership titles and three Scottish Cups with Ayr, will bring his winning mentality to Glasgow Warriors.
Perhaps it is sheer coincidence that the most successful coach in the Scottish club game has been appointed just weeks after Ian Rankin became vice-president of the Scottish Rugby Union and Peter Laverie - Murray's long-time coaching colleague at Ayr and before that Cartha QP - was elected to the SRU Council as the Premier One representative.

Maybe the penny had already dropped that Murray's abilities demanded he be offered a chance to show what he can do in the professional game. However, if so, it is all the more fortuitous from their point of view given that one of the main elements of Rankin's campaign for the vice-presidency, which Laverie most certainly supported, was that there has been a major problem in terms of offering such opportunities for coaches of progression between the club and professional games.

Rankin was almost uniquely qualified to pass comment on this, having been head coach of both Caledonia Reds and Edinburgh Reivers when the game turned professional, then manager of Edinburgh in the early days of the Celtic League before returning to the club game and spending a decade as head coach of Dundee HSFP.

That the vast majority in Scottish domestic rugby saw him in that light and agreed heartily with the sentiments he was expressing was demonstrated by the overwhelming scale of his victory in the vice-presidential election.

The rapturous response given to his sweeping aside of two well-meaning men who were, in the eyes of many, tainted by having been involved for a number of years in Murrayfield administration, had to reverberate around the sport's corridors of power. It feels, then, as if someone realised that before it was announced that two more foreign coaches were to be brought in, it was vital a significant role be found for a leading Scottish coach.

Whether or not that is the case, Glasgow Warriors and their supporters will benefit hugely from the appointment of Murray given the skill-set he brings to bear.

What has been clear at Edinburgh in their recruitment of a South African head coach and defence coach is that they have set out to bring in the know-how of those who understand what it is to create the right professional sporting culture at their club.

If allowed to have as much influence as he should as someone who has piled up the silverware as a coach, Murray has the capacity to bring that to Glasgow because, whether amateur or professional, incentivising sportsmen and getting them to understand their responsibilities is essentially the same. Indeed, it should be easier to do with full-time professionals than the amateurs or part-timers Murray has worked with over the years given the added complication of the juggling they have to do with other work commitments.

As well as bringing a new level of understanding of whole club management into the Warriors operation, Murray also has the huge added benefit of knowing the local rugby scene intimately.

The same could be said of Shade Munro, the club's forwards coach who has always been a hugely popular figure in Glasgow rugby, but he was always operating at the top end with GHK and Glasgow Hawks.

Murray brings an extra "grassroots" dimension since, as referenced above, he made his name as a coach with Cartha guiding them to a series of promotions through the lower divisions of the national leagues before his move to Ayr.

He has also been a regional rugby development manager in the city, a post he gave up in bizarre circumstances because by accepting it he found that his employers, the SRU, would not allow him to continue to coach club rugby.

His move from there took him to Glasgow Life, the city council's leisure arm, which in turn has considerable potential in terms of helping relationships with the Warriors' landlords.

It is, though, his ability to generate a winning mentality when it comes to the pursuit of prizes that means his recruitment could bring a new dimension to the Scottish professional scene.

For all that Solomons' appointment, along with that of Omar Mouneimne, his defence coach at South Africa's Southern Kings, should bring the sort of structure that seems badly needed in the capital, it was also a sobering reminder of the closest Scotland's professional teams have now come to winning a prize of any sort, other than when playing one another for the 1872 Challenge Cup.

Almost a decade has passed since Solomons brought Ulster to Murrayfield for the final of the now defunct Celtic Cup and they over-powered Todd Blackadder's side.

Since then Edinburgh's single appearance in a Heineken Cup semi-final and three Pro12 semi-finals by Glasgow are the best Scottish professional rugby has managed.

Hopefully the proven winners at both clubs will bring their influence to bear in the season ahead.

This article was posted on 8-Aug-2013, 07:39 by Hugh Barrow.