The Scotsman reports

PETER Wright has been unveiled as the new head coach of Peebles after ending a long association with Glasgow Hawks at the end of the recent season.


But the 44-year-old admitted that he no longer views club rugby as a stepping stone into the professional game for ambitious coaches.

Wright is preparing to head to the Junior World Championships in South Africa at the end of this week for his last assignment as coach of the Scotland Under-20 squad before outgoing Glasgow coach Sean Lineen takes over.

Former Boroughmuir, Melrose, Scotland and British and Irish Lions prop Wright has been one of the leading coaches in the club and age-grade game since he retired as a professional player over a decade ago. But, despite applying for a series of full-time positions within the SRU he has been passed over.

Edinburgh are currently looking for a new forwards coach with Tom Smith having decided to take up a more long-term position in French rugby with Lyon, but Wright revealed that he was informed last week that there was little point in him applying for the position as he lacked the necessary experience.

“I was told, along with a group of club coaches, that the SRU are only really considering coaches with professional rugby experience for the Glasgow and Edinburgh positions,” he said.

“That makes it virtually impossible for club coaches on the way up.

“I would have loved to have thrown my name into the hat for Edinburgh, and I’ve enjoyed the work I have had with SRU and Glasgow academies, the under-19s and under-20s

“I did hope that those would be good stepping stones to a professional coaching career but that’s not proved to be the case and I do feel the SRU are missing a trick by disregarding a wealth of experience that exists in the Scottish game.

“There are many club coaches who have professional days jobs and have shown they can balance the demands of demanding careers, where they could be operating at very high levels in business, with planning and managing coaching structures at ambitious clubs.

“Sir Clive Woodward and Rod Macqueen [former Wallaby coach] talk in their autobiographies explicitly about how they brought ideas from their business life into rugby.

“People say we need to ‘think outside the box’ a lot, and maybe appointing an ambitious young Scottish coach would be ‘thinking outside the box’.

“But that’s for others to worry about now. I’m excited now about the challenge of working with an ambitious Borders club.”

Wright considered offers to work professionally in the Middle East, as well as an opening in the USA but was keen to remain with his family in Scotland and will retain his part-time coaching role at Glasgow Academy.

Peebles’ aim is to return to the National League and director of rugby Graeme Paterson said: “Peter is an outstanding candidate with a wealth of experience both at club and National Age Grade levels and we are confident that Peter’s style and skills will enable this squad to progress.

“Everyone is looking forward to working with Peter and I believe it shows a statement of intent to return to the higher levels of Scottish rugby.”

This article was originally posted on 23-May-2012, 06:17 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 23-May-2012, 06:34.