THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS

DAVID FERGUSON
CHIEF RUGBY WRITER

FRANK Hadden believes he has the opportunity to land the Scotland job on a permanent basis after he was yesterday named interim head coach of the national side for the next two matches.

As expected, the Edinburgh coach will spearhead a new management team for the games against the Barbarians in Aberdeen on 24 May and Romania in Bucharest on 5 June. He will be assisted by coaches from Scotland’s two other professional sides, Glasgow and the Borders, as the Scottish Rugby Union seeks to bring some unity to the game following the sacking of Matt Williams and his assistants Willie Anderson and Brett Igoe.

In doing so, the SRU is showing faith in its own domestic set-up following Williams’ disastrous 17-match reign which yielded just three victories. The demise of Scotland’s first overseas coach less than halfway through a four-year contract and the appointment of a host of home-grown replacements underlines the change in philosophy within the game’s governing body.

Hugh Campbell and Steve Bates, the head coaches of Glasgow and the Borders respectively, will be part of Hadden’s inner circle and will aid him on team selection. They will be joined by the specialist coaches Sean Lineen (backs), George Graham (forwards) and Alan Tait (defence).

The new six-man coaching team will meet for the first time on Tuesday and will be aided by Glasgow’s Shade Munro and Edinburgh’s Carl Hogg and Todd Blackadder, who will all have an input as preparation begins for the two games.

Fred McLeod, the SRU’s acting chairman and chief executive, stressed the appointments were temporary, but Hadden clearly views this as an opportunity to make his mark with the national side. The coach said: "While it’s only for a couple of weeks it gives us the opportunity to stake a claim."

The decision on a permanent successor to Williams will rest with the new Scottish Rugby Board, which will take office after the SRU’s annual general meeting on 24 June. McLeod confirmed: "It would not be appropriate for me or anyone else to make a permanent appointment which would be incumbent upon our successors."

Hadden admitted it had all happened quite suddenly, and that the coaches had only come together for the first time at yesterday’s press conference. It also emerged that not all of the coaching team will be available for the matches. Lineen will miss both Scotland games as he is pursuing his coaching studies in New Zealand at the time, and Bates will miss the Romania trip due to family commitments. Despite these teething troubles, Hadden remained upbeat.

"As a long-time Scottish rugby supporter this is a very proud moment for me," he said. "We all get on very well and I think there’s a fairly close link between the three pro teams, and while we might not agree on all aspects of the playing of the game the fact that we’re able to put a united front forward at this stage is very important for Scottish rugby.

"The preparation for the national side is already in place for next season [16 days have been set aside for Scotland training sessions, less than this season] and the message that sends out is that the professional teams are going to drive Scottish professional rugby and not the national team. I think that is entirely the appropriate way to go, and so I believe this is the start of an exciting opportunity for Scottish rugby."

The two matches the new team will oversee fall into that rare group of not-so-daunting clashes for a Scotland coach. The non-Test ‘friendly’ against the Barbarians has become an annual fixture in recent seasons and the Scots are still seeking their first win, so expectations are low. The trip to Romania is likely to provide the players with a welcome reminder of what it is like to win a Test match away from home. The Eastern Europeans have declined significantly since the days when they were able to inflict defeats in Bucharest on Scotland’s Grand Slam-winning teams of 1984 and 1990.

It is perhaps this fresh show of faith in native coaches which is the most important factor to come from this week’s deliberations. It was always on the cards as Ian McGeechan, the director of rugby, moved with public opinion, and the real test of such faith may come with the new executive board in the summer, but this provides these standard-bearers of pro rugby in Scotland with the chance to lay down a marker.

Jim Telfer, the former director of rugby, his successor McGeechan and Bill Watson, the former SRU chief executive, did not feel sufficiently confident in the abilities of any home-based coaches to put one in charge in 1999 when Telfer stood down or in 2003 when Williams was brought in from Australia. McGeechan was a popular choice to succeed Telfer as head coach and Williams was a bold move when he replaced McGeechan, but neither could uncover consistency of performance or confidence in trying times. Two years on and Hadden, Campbell and Bates believe they have the ability to make a difference, and that at least is a welcome signal of self-confidence from men prepared to put their reputations on the line.

As head coach of Edinburgh, Hadden was given time after a difficult opening period, during which the players were critical of what they perceived to be a dogmatic style and some felt they were treated like children. Similar complaints were made of Williams in recent weeks, but over the course of four years in charge Hadden developed his managerial approach with the help of Blackadder, in particular. Whether this resulted in Edinburgh winning more games and reaching the Heineken Cup quarter-finals or the success came first and helped him to bring his squad back together is open to question, but what is certain is he is now a more widely-respected leader within the capital club’s camp. He also preaches a game of rugby which the players buy into and these are all factors which have earned him the top job at this time.

All of the coaches were happy yesterday to savour the honour of being asked to lead Scotland but realise it may only be for a short time and could end on their return from Romania next month.

This article was originally posted on 30-Apr-2005, 08:49 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 30-Apr-2005, 13:57.