EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS REVEALS

GAVIN McCAFFERTY
FRANK HADDEN has agreed a new rolling contract to extend his stint as Scotland head coach.

The Scottish Rugby Union revealed Hadden had agreed a performance-related deal which sets out a notice period and formal reviews, the first scheduled for November 2008.

Hadden said: "It was a huge honour in 2005 to be offered the opportunity to coach Scotland and it remains a real privilege to be asked to continue in the role."

SRU chief executive Gordon McKie and Hadden negotiated the contract at a series of meetings which have occurred since Scotland's World Cup campaign ended at the quarter-final stage in October. McKie said: "Since Frank Hadden first came in to take over as national coach in May 2005, he has presided over a tremendous turnaround in the fortunes of the national team and he has now assembled a squad of talented young players who promise much for the future. Our recently-published new strategy for Scottish rugby sets demanding, yet achievable, performance targets for our national squad.

"We are confident that the platform for future success has been well and truly established under Frank Hadden and we are therefore delighted that he has agreed to take on the challenge of maintaining that momentum and taking Scotland to the next level."

Former Merchiston Castle schoolteacher Hadden, 53, had stressed yesterday that the delay in signing a contract was merely down to "red tape".

The former Edinburgh coach's contract extension is reward for improving the national team's fortunes since replacing the struggling Matt Williams, initially as a caretaker, in spring 2005.

Hadden guided his country to third place in the 2006 RBS 6 Nations competition with the help of famous victories over England and France. Serious injuries to the likes of skipper Jason White hampered this year's campaign, when Scotland ended up with the wooden spoon but their four defeats included a one-point loss to Ireland and a freak start against Italy, which saw the Azzurri score three tries in the opening seven minutes.

Hadden's task of continuingthe progress was set out in writing earlier this month when the SRU published its five-year plan. The governing body demanded that Scotland reach the quarter-finals of the 2011 World Cup, improve their Six Nations win rate from 25 per cent to 40 per cent and win the tournament at least once by 2012.

"Obviously there are strategic goals that have been made public, but there are also private targets which we want to keep to ourselves," Hadden said yesterday.

"The gist of it is that we have nothing to fear in the Six Nations, and we'll be doing everything we can to get the first win under our belt against France and give ourselves a chance to do something really special in the Six Nations."

Hadden also hinted that Alan Tait and George Graham will be kept on as assistant coaches on a full-time basis, and more details may be revealed at a Murrayfield press conference this afternoon.

This article was posted on 18-Dec-2007, 14:09 by Hugh Barrow.