GREGOR Townsend’s agreement of a new contract brings to a happy conclusion a year which has seen a remarkable turnaround in the fortunes of Scotland’s head coach. The deal, which will see the 47-year-old lead the national team into the 2023 Rugby World Cup, provides continuity and stability not only to that team, but also to the country’s coaching set-up as a whole, with Richard Cockerill and Danny Wilson already firmly in place in charge of Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors respectively. 

At the end of 2019 Townsend’s reputation had taken a battering after a deeply disappointing Rugby World Cup, and things got worse at the start of 2020 when a dispute with Finn Russell led to the stand-off leaving the Scotland camp and missing that spring’s Five Nations matches. Since then, however, there has been a significant improvement in the harmony within the squad, while results and performances have been encouraging throughout.

Both Townsend and SRU chief executive Mark Dodson had said over the past fortnight that they were eager to conclude a new deal before Christmas, and an announcement from Murrayfield yesterday morning confirmed that agreement had been reached and that the coach had signed a two-year extension to his current contract. “I am really pleased we can continue to have Gregor lead the Scotland team over the next couple of years and into the 2023 Rugby World Cup,” Dodson said in the announcement. 

“I’ve been impressed with how Gregor has refocused his approach over the last 12 months following the disappointing results at the RWC 2019 and believe he is the right man to continue an upward trajectory of this group of players and coaches. International rugby has never been such an competitive arena and Scottish Rugby is determined to keep pace with other nations, and having a talented and respected coach like Gregor on board is an important factor in helping us achieve that.”

While public suggestions that a new contract was imminent were only made recently, Dodson surely made up his mind considerably earlier that he wanted the incumbent to extend a term in office that began back in 2017 when Townsend succeeded Vern Cotter. Even by the time lockdown came in March, the coach had shown with two narrow defeats and two convincing victories in the Six Nations that he had put the difficulties of the World Cup behind him. 

When Scotland followed up those victories against Italy and France with wins over Georgia, Wales and the Italians again, that meant they had put together their biggest winning run for a decade. If they had beaten France again in the Autumn Nations Cup they would have equalled their best-ever sequence of wins, but instead they suffered another narrow loss, then ended the international year with a defeat in Dublin in the third-place play-off. Those back-to-back losses may have been a reality check, but the evidence of progress has been plentiful nonetheless. 

“I am honoured and privileged to have been given the opportunity to continue in my role as Scotland head coach,” Townsend said. “I will be doing all I can, alongside an outstanding support staff, to improve the team as we build towards Rugby World Cup 2023 in France.

“Over the past year I believe we have made progress on and off the field which gives real grounds for optimism around what this team can achieve. I know how much our supporters want the team to do well, and the backing for the team has been fantastic, especially during the difficulties of the past year with Covid, knowing how much of a lift the country gets when the national team is successful. 

“We have a very talented and hard-working group of players, with growing depth in a number of positions. We will be putting all our efforts into unlocking that potential and helping our players deliver their best performance when they come together for our future campaigns.” 

Earlier this year Cockerill agreed a new deal that will keep him as Edinburgh coach until 2023, while Wilson, who took over the Warriors in June, is in the first of a two-year deal. In other words, Dodson now has his three key coaches in place for the next 18 months at least.