According to press reports whizzing about just now, Ol’ Franky baws has jumped, possibly whilst being pushed.
While in recent years the team has lapsed into a fairly inconsistent sort of malaise, I feel Scottish Rugby fans (and players) will always wish Frank Hadden well simply for restoring faith and a little hope in the aftermath of the Matt Williams era. His record in home Calcutta Cups was pretty good and his team notched up an away Southern Hemisphere win, something of a rarity. Okay, Argentina without Llofreda or Hernandez. But – south of the Equator. Live with it.
However (without wishing to kick a man whilst down) he may also be remembered for an over-reliance on reputation (or relationship?) at the expense of form (cough Dan Parks, Marcus Di Rollo cough) whilst stalling before bringing in players who merited a run in that famous navy shirt of ours (Godman, Cairns, Evans, Evans). Should I even mention Mossy and the standoff debate? Sorry, no time – dinner’s ready. Whatever he’s up to next Al and I shall wish him well, as he always seemed a decent bloke. But it is time for this Scotland team to move on. Or try to.
Now talk inevitably turns to: which fool wants the job? Steve Bates/Todd Blackadder/Eddie Jones/Marcelo Llofreda/Bryan Redpath/Rob Moffatt etc etc… Will Robinson and Lineen want to abandon rebuilding the pro-teams, now they seem to be getting somewhere? Can the SRU afford anyone decent? Will a newcomer hang on to Brewer, Steadman and Townsend? Does Tom Smith have any coaching qualifications?
Discussion, as always, in the coming weeks – as the size of Frank’s name in the tag popularity cloud to the right diminishes slowly into the night…