THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS

Still no deal, but Hadden expects to be in charge for Six Nations

By DAVID FERGUSON
FRANK Hadden urged Scotland's leading rugby players to set confident goals in 2008 when they met up at Murrayfield yesterday, but admitted afterwards that he has yet to agree a new contract to coach them.
Hadden insisted the issue would be resolved "very soon" and his body language at his final Scotland squad session of the year suggested he was wholly confident of continuing in the role along with assistants George Graham, Alan Tait and Mark Bitcon. But he admitted that, nearly four weeks on from the start of contract talks with SRU chief executive Gordon McKie and his officials, there was no deal done yet.

"These things don't happen overnight and I hope it will all be resolved very soon," he said. "There are quite a lot of pages to read. Gordon doesn't work independently; he has people he has to consult and I have people I have to consult and the whole thing just takes time.

"If you had two days where you could sit down with all the people involved you could do it, but that's not the real world. You have a little chat and then the next week you have another chat. I'm hoping something will be resolved fairly soon and there will be announcement then."

Hadden insisted he could not understand why anyone was interested in the Scotland head coach's contract discussions. He is on a rolling SRU staff contract, so there has been no great urgency since he returned to work last month, but it does seem strange that with McKie having publicly stated he wanted no-one else to lead Scotland forward, the new contract is still to be agreed.

Hadden was appointed in 2005 and an appraisal was built into the union's review of the 2007 World Cup. Having achieved the target of reaching the quarter-finals, and helped the SRU out of the mess, financially and otherwise of a £250,000-a-year deal with Matt Williams, perhaps the coach believes he is worth a significant pay rise. The length of time and resources available may also be key parts of the negotiations.

Hadden laughed off such suggestions, adding: "Nobody is holding out for anything; it's not as if I don't want to do it because of this or that, or they are refusing to accept my terms. It's nothing like that. The length of the contract is not an issue. There are no issues – it's just red tape."

An indication of Hadden's confidence that he will coach the national side through a third Six Nations Championship came in his support for his assistant coaches and the assertion that continuity was vital to taking Scotland forward.

"It looks as if we might be entering into a period of stability, and continuity and consistency is important; it is not like a club where you are working with the same guys every day. There is no doubt that the quality of work George (Graham] and Alan (Tait] have done over the last two years has been very impressive. Gordon McKie is aware of who I want to work with and I'm sure everything will work out fine in the end."

Hadden had invited 44 players to yesterday's session and all but Sean Lamont and Marcus Di Rollo showed up. Lamont is due to undergo a cruciate knee operation tomorrow and Di Rollo is nursing a more minor injury. The coach acknowledged that he faces a much stiffer task bringing all the players together since almost a full XV of players left the country in the summer. But he praised the co-operation of clubs so far.

Whether they are asaccommodating for the three-day camp planned for mid-January, between the final Heineken Cup pool rounds, remains to be seen, but release of players from Edinburgh and Glasgow will not be a problem and the improving form of the home sides, notably in the Heineken Cup against Biarritz and Leinster, has delighted the coach.

He added: "Obviously, there are strategic goals that have been made public, but there are also private targets. The gist of it is that we have nothing to fear in the Six Nations, and we'll be doing everything to get the first win under our belt against France and give ourselves a chance to do something special in the Six Nations.

"Most professional rugby players should have a fair degree of confidence but there is nothing like winning

This article was posted on 18-Dec-2007, 08:04 by Hugh Barrow.