Interview Australian coach will be big loss to Scottish game, writes Kevin Ferrie

A 100% record with the A team makes him Scottish international rugby’s coaching success of the season and Nick Scrivener’s record with Edinburgh is beginning to look reminiscent of the last import to take charge of a Scottish team.

When Andy Robinson took over at Edinburgh in mid-season following the 2007/08 World Cup, it took him five matches to register a win and, after seven in charge, he had a total of two.

Scrivener similarly took over in mid-season, albeit in different circumstances following the sacking of Rob Moffat, and had to wait until his fifth match in charge to register a win. Now, with seven under his belt, he, too, has two wins.

There was a feeling when Scrivener was appointed caretaker after 18 months as Moffat’s assistant and announced that he wanted the job that he was a strong front-runner. A few weeks ago, however, he announced he had changed his mind for personal reasons.

Since then, wins over defending champions, the Ospreys, and a first try-scoring bonus point success of the season against Aironi served as a reminder that his departure may be a very big loss, indeed, for Scottish rugby.

There is a suspicion, too, that he is leaving with a heavy heart since it seems inconceivable that he would have come all the way to Scotland early in the 2009/10 season anticipating such a short involvement.

Particularly so when there are signs that the players are really beginning to perform the way he has been encouraging them to.

“We showed we can play some footie [against Aironi] and we did that against the Ospreys too,” he said.

This week he looks to bow out with a third successive Murrayfield win and in explaining his concern about tonight’s opponents, summed it up in typically blunt Aussie fashion: “It’ll be a completely different test. We really got our pants pulled down last time we played there.”

Scrivener’s focus is not on what might happen beyond his time, but on finishing his time in Edinburgh as well as possible.

“I’m coaching not for any legacy but to be successful in developing how we play,” he said. “We will continue work to hard at it. We’re just trying to have a bit more to us. We’re known for an off-loading, fast-paced game and a lot of credit for that goes to Moff. It’s putting some polish on that ball-in-hand game and also developing other ways to play in different circumstances.

“You look at key games that we’ve lost by not much. Things like that turn on momentum and you end up losing by a little bit, rather than winning by a little bit but I do think we’re making progress.”

It will be down to Scrivener’s successor to take things forward. The process of finding a permanent head coach is now at the second interview stage and, with the names of Eddie O’Sullivan and Peter Wright having been bandied about, the now standard debate is under way over the importance of promoting from within the domestic game.

Wright’s case is strong. Vastly experienced, he toured with the British & Irish Lions and, since his playing days ended, has been a development officer, an academy and age grade international coach, director of rugby at Glasgow Hawks, and even dabbled in rugby politics as the Premier One representative on the SRU Council. All that plus regular broadcasting contributions on BBC Scotland.

Perhaps most importantly of all, though, his time away from Murrayfield has allowed the dust to settle since he ran into disciplinary bother for his outspokenness while in SRU employ.

The same cannot be said of another of the more obvious domestic candidates, Craig Chalmers, which is doubtless why the Melrose coach’s name has not been prominent amid the speculation. Ally Donaldson, of Currie, has made his bid on the back of tangible success, having guided Currie to two Premier One title wins, but what could become an increasing problem is reflected in the apparent lack of interest in the Edinburgh job of the most successful club coach of all.

Kenny Murray’s short time at Ayr has brought silverware every season he has been there, an astonishing run in this season’s British & Irish Cup and, following Saturday’s successful defence of the cup, the chance of a double this season.

That he seems to prefer the stability of full-time employment with Glasgow Life, while adding to his income and still getting the competitive buzz from coaching ambitious Ayr, somehow seems very significant in the current Scottish rugby climate.

This article was posted on 22-Apr-2011, 06:35 by Hugh Barrow.