SRU chief anticipates 'positive' talks with Townsend

BBC News

5 hours ago

Scottish Rugby chief executive Alex Williamson expects to have "really positive" conversations with Gregor Townsend about his future and "would be amazed" if the Scotland head coach did not want a crack at a third World Cup.In an interview with BBC Scotland, Williamson said he was keen to retain the services of the three coaches currently in the top jobs in men's rugby in Scotland – Townsend, Franco Smith at Glasgow Warriors and his Edinburgh counterpart Sean Everett. All three have deals that currently run to 2026.Williamson is also looking to identify a successor to performance director David Nucifora, who is expected to leave the role at the end of his contract next year.
'Sense of continuity important'
Townsend has been leading Scotland since 2017 and despite undoubtedly elevating the level of the national team during his tenure and delivering a number of impressive results against some of the world's best sides, he has failed to mount a meaningful challenge for silverware.The Scots have never finished higher than third in the Six Nations on Townsend's watch and suffered group stage exits at the 2019 and 2023 World Cups.Williamson, however, believes Townsend has the desire to go to a third World Cup and indicated he would be happy for the former Glasgow coach to remain in post for the tournament in Australia in 2027."I am going on the summer tour so we are going to have plenty of time to have conversations and it is consistent that sense of having continuity is going to be important for us."I thought we saw a lot in the autumn and then going through the Six Nations. If we cast our minds back to Australia and South Africa, if we think about the way that we played, in particular against England and France, I think that we were tiny differences away from wins in very big games and I think that we should be excited about that."The feedback from the players continues to be really strong in terms of the quality of the camp and the coaching and I think we should be optimistic for the way that the men's national team can perform going into this very challenging summer tour and then into the autumn."I think that the conversations with Gregor are going to be really positive."
'I really hope Franco will be staying'
Smith has been a resounding success since taking over at Glasgow in 2022.He led the club to the European Challenge Cup final in his first season, delivered an extraordinary United Rugby Championship title success in his second, and while injuries took a toll last season, Warriors still reached the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup and the last four in the URC.Smith has been linked with other jobs throughout the season - most notably the vacant Wales head coach position – and has done little to quell talk that he is seeking a fresh challenge."We really like all three coaches we have got on the men's side and we would really like to retain them," Williamson said."So those conversations are ones I am having now and will continue over the coming weeks. But when it comes to Franco specifically, he is a fantastic coach. He has done an absolutely incredible job and I really, really hope that he will be staying."I am actually delighted that he is getting approached and that people are talking about him as being a coach for other people because we want the best coaches in Scotland and it would be frankly pretty disappointing if no one was talking about someone as high quality as him."I think that we offer a consistency and a clarity of plan that he will be brilliant in and I am really hopeful that he will be with us."Smith is viewed by many as an obvious replacement for Townsend, but Williamson insists such succession planning has not been discussed."I don't think that we necessarily should be looking at our coaching group and saying that we are creating the bench if you like to replace gaps when they arise at any level," he said."I think that we just want to make sure in that moment that we recruit the person who is very best for that role."When we are thinking about how we create a pathway that is going to result in us being highly competitive in 2031 and 2035, or 2029 and 2033 for the ladies, we absolutely have to nail that in terms of the continuity around our coaching because that is what is going to breed confidence in our players."Having Franco here is an important part of that. But equally, I think Sean Everett has done a brilliant job at the back end of the season. I think he is very proud of the way that team grew and I am excited to see how he goes with a very young player group next year."
New performance director must share Nucifora vision
Nucifora was brought in last year to overhaul Scottish Rugby's performance department and pathway structures, having enjoyed great success in a similar role in Ireland.The Australian's deal runs to 2026 and Williamson does not envisage that contract being extended, though he believes Nucifora may retain some influence."David was brought in with a very specific remit to introduce a structure that was going to give us the best opportunity with what we have in Scotland to be highly competitive going into those World Cups I have already mentioned," he said."He and the rest of the senior team have been working like crazy on delivering to that structure and David isn't going to be the guy in two years' time breathing life into that structure on a daily basis, that is absolutely going to be someone else."I do anticipate that David would retain a role in making sure that we don't deviate too far off that path but from a distance, more in a sort of mentoring capacity."