The Scotsman
Ian McGeechan is relishing being part of the British and Irish Lions set-up preparing for the upcoming tour after a stormy last few months as director of rugby at the SRU.

DAVID FERGUSON
CHIEF RUGBY WRITER

IAN McGeechan has spoken for the first time about having to sack Matt Williams as Scotland coach, revealing he felt compelled to take the decisive action before quitting his role with the Scottish Rugby Union.

McGeechan is now ensconced at the Vale Hotel near Cardiff, where yesterday the British and Irish Lions shared the hotel with the Welsh Grand Slam-winning squad and the Manchester United team in a quite incredible mix of some of the best sporting talent on these shores. It is that rarefied arena which has drawn McGeechan back out of the largely administrative role he had taken up at Murrayfield as director of rugby, to join the Lions and then head back to the Zurich Premiership with Wasps.

Taking time out from coaching the Lions team to face Argentina on Monday, in what the squad see as the first match of the 2005 tour, his cheery demeanour dropped as we discussed his final days at Murrayfield.

He explained: "It felt like squeezing four months' work into the last four weeks but there were a number of issues which I felt I had to resolve or take to a conclusion before I went. One of those was taking a decision on the national team management and that was as hard as anything I've had to do in my whole career. But I could not and would not have left without taking responsibility for that. It didn't initially come under the director of rugby's remit, but latterly I became the line manager of the national coach, so when the environment became quite negative a good long look had to be taken.

"I was open and honest with Matt and he knew what I was doing, how I was speaking to a variety of interests, and I gave him the opportunity to make a presentation to the board. But it was still very hard. I knew exactly what it was like, having been through difficult times as a Scotland coach myself.

"When it came to telling him my decision it had to be done face-to-face. The results were not good, but there was also the breakdown in communication between the management and players and other areas of Scottish rugby. I think, for instance, if Matt had been able to develop a better relationship with pro team and representative coaches he may still have been in charge.

"My main consideration was whether the mood would improve and we could return to a more positive environment with improvements possible, or not. I had to make a call on that and I decided it was time for a change. It was important, I felt, two years out from the next World Cup that the change came now and gave any new management team the time to try and turn things around and create a better environment in which to build and move forward."

McGeechan was fortunate in that his disappointing final term as national coach, which also brought poor results and disharmony within the squad, ended with a move upstairs - something already agreed a year before he stood down at the 2003 World Cup.

He was also heavily involved in bringing Williams on board before that tournament and admitted that that was another reason why he felt he had to deal with the situation personally at the end. But, he has also advised the SRU to keep faith with its own coaches when Frank Hadden's interim period ends next month.

He said: "We should now be looking to our own coaches, which is why I suggested Frank and a team of professional coaches from Scotland, with Richie Dixon as director of rugby, on an interim basis. It was pleasing to see they wanted to do the job because there wasn't the same interest when we appointed Matt. I got on well with Matt and there is no doubt he has a lot of talents as a coach, and, actually, we perhaps needed someone to come in from outside Scotland for coaches here to realise they did have something to offer, to re-assess their ambition.

"There were not many two years ago with the professional experience needed to work at international level, because it's not a job where you can afford a year or two of learning the ropes. Iain Paxton, I think, is doing a very good job with the under-21s now and Peter Wright is learning a lot with the under-19s, and now full-time I think they are discovering the levels that other nations are operating at, but are excited about the challenge of getting Scottish players to that. That is great and bodes well for Scottish rugby.

"There are not the same opportunities in Scotland for professional coaches, but that shouldn't stop those who are ambitious and want to coach at the highest level. I would like to see more of our coaches move away from Scotland; move to the Zurich Premiership or France. You don't have to go to the southern hemisphere, but look for assistant coaching posts in good professional leagues like England and France, where you can learn and develop as coaches. We all take time to learn and develop, and you need to see how other countries do it, and to what level they are working."

When put to McGeechan that because of the lack of professional opportunity in Scotland it was difficult for Scots coaches to impress pro clubs in England and France, he replied: "It's not impossible - look at Carl Hogg, who was at Leeds, and Tony Stanger, who is the fitness and skills coach at London Irish.

"I think we will see more former players now becoming coaches and they will push for jobs around the world, having played around the world. Bryan Redpath is a great example of someone who I think is good coach material. He thinks a lot about the game and is passionate about improving and developing players, and Gregor Townsend is another. He is an intelligent thinker and has always thought about rugby and how it can be improved, so they will become good coaches.

"I hope Frank does well in the next couple of games and we do move forward with our own coaches, and with more pushing through and wanting to reach the top level. We felt we were bringing in the best candidate for the job when we hired Matt, but I think we'd all like to see a Scot being the best candidate to coach Scotland."

This article was posted on 20-May-2005, 07:44 by Hugh Barrow.