THE HERALD REPORTS


KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer May 29 2008
Alan Tait has followed George Graham, his former Scotland coaching colleague, in opting to quit Murrayfield for a return to club rugby.

When The Herald revealed last month that there was to be a shake-up of the Scotland management, it was initially thought that Tait as well as Graham was to pay for the team's disappointing showing in this season's RBS 6 Nations, and it looked likely that both would join Steve Bates, previously their boss at Border Reivers, at their former club Newcastle Falcons.

The Scottish Rugby Union initially went some way towards reinforcing that impression but, while Graham was offered another position within the organisation that he declined, defence coach Tait was subsequently included in the party for this summer's tour of Argentina.

It will, though, be his last involvement with the national team for the time being, since he has now agreed a three-year contract with the Falcons, working under Bates who was recently appointed director of rugby there as of July.

There were echoes of Graham's reasons for opting to leave SRU employment in Tait's explanation that he feels he needs more regular involvement with players in order to maximise his potential as a coach. "My attitude as a coach is very similar to what motivated me as a player - I want to be the best," said the former rugby union and league British & Irish Lion who helped the Falcons win England's championship a decade ago.

"This has not been an easy decision to make, but if one day I'm to be head coach of Scotland I need to get much more day-to-day coaching experience and test myself in the Guinness Premiership, which has evolved so much since I played in England's top-flight competition.

"I want to make it clear I'm not moving for money. The role Scottish Rugby had offered me, where I was to be working on defence duties with the national team, the Edinburgh pro-team and, ultimately, other representative sides, was attractive, but I've opted to join Newcastle because I feel at this stage of my coaching career it's what I need. I've been fortunate to work with some great coaches during my involvement with Scotland and like them all, Geech Ian McGeechan, Jim Telfer and Frank Hadden, I've had some sleepless nights, because Scotland means so much to us."

That being the case, he pledged total commitment to the cause for the campaign ahead. "I'll give my all with Frank, Sean Lineen, Andy Robinson and Duncan Hodge, over the next few weeks and the two Tests in Argentina and thereafter I'll look forward to working with Steve again and aim to improve as a coach at the Falcons," said Tait.

Hadden wished Tait well and thanked him for his "tremendous contribution to Scottish Rugby", but these are worrying times for the head coach. While Tait's explanation for his decision seems as genuine as that of Craig Smith, the prop who has opted out of the tour because he currently feels he lacks the necessary motivation, Hadden must know his critics can interpret this as further evidence of decay.

Certainly, like any leader in times of change, he must move positively to prove that he still has the enthusiasm and energy required to remain effective. Tait's departure means that if Hadden remains in the post following the tour of Argentina - something that will depend on results there - he will have to engage an entirely new backroom team ahead of next season.

Following the decision to remove Graham from the national management, Sean Lineen, the Glasgow Warriors head coach, and Andy Robinson, his Edinburgh counterpart, were called up as his assistants for this, Scotland's most important ever tour. That, though, is clearly an emergency measure and neither would be prepared to leave their current posts to become Hadden's assistants on a permanent basis.

It provides a great incentive to those set to take the A squad on their tour of North America: Rob Moffat, the Edinburgh backs coach; Steve Gemmell, the national sevens coach, and Shade Munro and Gary Mercer, Glasgow Warriors' forwards and defence coaches respectively.

Whether or not any of them are promoted to the Scotland set-up, it certainly means a bottleneck has been freed up. That may have happened at just the wrong time for Peter Wright, the former Scotland Under-20s coach whose last day at Murrayfield is today before he takes up his new full-time post as director of rugby at Glasgow Hawks.

However, the time may now be right to look towards the club game and the coaches who have made an impression in recent years. Those include a couple of familiar faces to Scotland supporters.

Craig Chalmers' Melrose won the SHE Scottish Cup, their first national trophy for 11 years. His fellow former internationalist and ferocious competitor Cammy Mather is currently touring the globe looking for an opportunity to get into full-time professional coaching after steering Watsonians through three successful seasons.

Eamonn John, who recently led Boroughmuir to the SHE Premiership Division One title, has also had exposure to international rugby below Test level, as have Bob McKillop and George Breckenridge, the Heriot's coaching team.

Another who could be considered is Carl Hogg, currently part of the coaching team at Gloucester, but who has spent a fair bit of time in Scotland this season and was at Murrayfield for the national team's training session on Tuesday.

Tony Stanger, scorer of the Grand Slam-winning try in 1990, has, meanwhile, recently left London Irish to return to Scotland after taking up a new post with the Institute of Sport.

This article was posted on 29-May-2008, 13:25 by Hugh Barrow.