The Scotsman reports

Peter Wright keen to put name in frame at Edinburgh

Published Date: 03 February 2011
By DAVID FERGUSON
PETER Wright has thrown his hat into the ring for the head coach position at Edinburgh as Rob Moffat's vacated post was advertised by the SRU yesterday.
Moffat was sacked on Monday by a three-man panel of SRU chief executive Gordon McKie, Andy Robinson, the national coach, and director of performance rugby Graham Lowe. McKie stated that it was primarily down to results as Edinburgh have struggled this season to match their efforts in recent years.

Moffat's assistant Nick Scrivener has been put in charge until the end of the season.

Scrivener is expected to apply for the post longer-term while Tom Smith remains the forwards coach.

But McKie has stated that whoever is successful in landing the head coach position would be free to discuss bringing in his own coaching team.

Wright, like Smith, a former Scotland and British and Irish Lions prop, is currently full-time director of rugby at Glasgow Hawks and the Scotland U20 coach.

Despite falling out with the SRU in the past, the 43-year-old has forged a reputation in the club and age-grade games as a good, hard-edged coach.

He has applied for posts with Edinburgh, Glasgow and the old Borders team but failed to land any in the professional game.

However, he is confident that he could step up to the demands of the pro game and insisted that, with Smith and Scrivener having come from outside Scotland, the SRU should be looking at those developing as coaches inside the country.

"Of course I will apply," he said. "You never want to be doing it in these circumstances, but, ultimately, the job is now vacant.

"For me there are two things here. One, you have to get the right person in the job and it shouldn't matter where that person comes from, but, two, to give Scottish coaches encouragement to come through and really work hard to get to that level the system here has to be shown to be working.

"There is a bit more direction now than there has been in the path. There was talk of a coaching pathway but I hadn't really seen any evidence of it whereas now there's a lot more CPD out there to help coaches trying to get to the highest level. But the proof of something working is always seeing people actually moving their way up and getting there.

"To give it credibility you have to let guys come through, and let them fail or succeed. We've done that with players for years and changed things and improved the system, but you have to give local coaches, if they're good enough, a chance."

Wright has worked with Scotland U19s and U20s for the past eight years, as well as being a technical coach with Scotland 'A', SRU national academy coach and a Glasgow back-up team coach before taking up his current role at Glasgow Hawks.

"I think I've learned a lot in all the different roles I've had, and am better prepared for what will hit me. It's not about whether you played (for Scotland] or not. Ex-players can make good coaches and bad coaches; people who never played at all can make good coaches and bad coaches.

"The coaching is a big part of it, but so is the motivation side of it. Getting the best out of players, driving them at the right time, backing off them at the right time and personally, I think I've got the right tools now."

"Sometimes coaches can be too nice. It's not about ranting and raving all the time but there are times when you have to have harsh words with people and I think that's part and parcel of being a club coach, age-grade coach and professional coach."

Former Australia 'A' coach Scrivener is a leading candidate, but Currie and Scotland club international coach Ally Donaldson and Craig Chalmers at Melrose are two coaches in the club game who the SRU would be well advised to look at for a role in the new set-up. Scrivener hopes, meanwhile, to lift spirits for the rest of the season.

This article was posted on 3-Feb-2011, 07:35 by Hugh Barrow.