THE HERALD REPORTS
Reaction from around the country

April 26 2005

Jim Telfer Former director of rugby and Scotland coach
I'm very disappointed. The results were not going very well, but there are two sides to a story. The players have to take some responsibility for themselves. It seems to me that they are passing the buck. There was a time when they liked Matt, they gave him their support and then when results did not go well they got under the parapet.
The games I have watched recently I couldn't tell you what the tactics were, but it was the players that were making the schoolboy errors, you can't blame the coach for that. I think our pro coaches are good enough for the job and I don't think they will go outside Scotland because the public and the legends are demanding a Scot and that is what will happen, but you have to know that most of the top four club coaches in England are not English. We have to be careful not to be xenophobic about this. We also need to move away from the blame culture if we want to see the next coach succeed.

Ian Barnes Edinburgh Academicals coach
It had to happen. He was his own worst enemy, if that is possible, and we needed to change things. I would like to see the SRU comb the organisation to make sure they get the right man for the job and then back him. It's going to be a tough ride for whoever gets the job and they will need support.

Ian Rankin Dundee HSFP coach
For everybody sake, including Matt Williams', I am glad it is over. It has not worked out and we now have to move on. The problem for the immediate future is that we have not groomed our young coaches recently. People like Sean Lineen, Peter Wright and Ian Paxton have not got the necessary experience at the top level, when perhaps they should have been groomed earlier. I would still like to see a Scot brought in to do the job, however.

Stuart Grimes Scotland internationalist
I thought he had taken us forward in terms of professionalism and I enjoyed working with him and Willie Anderson. He gave a lot of energy to Scottish rugby.

Doddie Weir Scotland internationalist
It wasn't inevitable that he would go because of the way the SRU has worked in the past. But he was in charge for 17 games and won three of them. If that was a player, they would have been replaced and the same applies to him.

Jim Aitken Former Scotland captain
It was the only course of action and I just hope the powers that be in the SRU have the guts to chuck out all the other deadwood.

Kenny Logan Former Scotland internationalist
There are no obvious candidates to be the top man, but they have to get Todd Blackadder involved in some way. He is immensely respected by professional players from every team in Scotland and among rugby people throughout the world. Guys such as Sean Lineen, Peter Wright and Hugh Campbell have been widely mentioned but I am not sure they have sufficient clout yet. Their time will come but I reckon they are not quite ready for the step up.

John Roxburgh Director of Glasgow Hawks and former Scotland technical coach
It is probably the best thing for everyone concerned. Things are falling into place and, hopefully, people who had not been watching Scotland will return to the fold.
A lot of people were getting disillusioned. I hope the players will respond to change, as often happens and it would be good to see younger people given the chance to be involved in the coaching process.
Sean Lineen and Peter Wright should be in the frame. Rugby is moving on all the time and we need younger people at the helm In the past, players often weren't capped until they were past their best and the same thing can happen with coaches.

Kenny Milne Former Scotland internationalist
If he had lost the players' confidence, which seemed to be the case, he had to go. The SRU can learn the lesson to look domestically to solve problems instead of looking abroad.

David Robinson Secretary, Aberdeen GSFP
My main concern is a financial one. There must be a severance fee involved and the SRU are already in debt – to say their financial situation is parlous would be an understatement – so that is going to be an extra burden on Scottish rugby in general. It could affect everyone.

James Black President, Cartha Queen's Park
I'm delighted. I think he'd obviously lost the dressing room and any coach that starts criticising his players in public like he did needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask: "What the heck is going on here?"

Gerry Mckay Secretary, Musselburgh RFC
I'll tell you what a Northern Irish friend of mine, who played rugby with Willie John McBride, told me. He said: "Why the hell are Scotland taking on an Irish coach no-one in Ireland would use and an Australian who couldn't even cut it at Leinster?"

Compiled by Dave Hammond & Jim Byers

This article was posted on 26-Apr-2005, 07:38 by Hugh Barrow.