Sean Lineen has ruled himself out of contention for the Scotland Rugby head coach’s position. Wise enough to mastermind a famous away victory in Toulouse, the original kilted Kiwi is also wise enough to know that he has unfinished business with Glasgow. He talks a lot of sense about where he is as a coach, realising his own strengths and weaknesses and he’ll probably be a great Scotland coach, just not this time round. This leaves Andy Robinson as pretty overwhelming favourite now. Will he take a similar step out of the spotlight, clearing the way for a worldwide headhunt, or is he actually far more anxious to prove himself once again on the biggest stage? One overwhelming thing in his favour is that he doesn’t get on with Brian Moore. We should know if he throws in the hat or the towel in the next week or two.
While rumours abound that Sean Lamont is Edinburgh bound – he certainly seems to be MIA at Saints although that may be more to do with the form of Paul Diggin – one thing for sure is that Robinson has also just completed the signing of Sevens captain Roddy Grant to a full-time contract at Edinburgh. Grant, who plays as flanker in the fifteens game, should be afforded an ideal opportunity to learn his trade first hand from a coach with a pretty large knowledge base in that area. Unless of course he moves upstairs…
Meanwhile Lineen, with an even stronger Glasgow squad for next year including Chris Cusiter and Rob Dewey, wants to give himself a chance for success there first, realising that one good Heineken Cup result does not a good Scotland coach make.
Oh, wait…
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Closing date for applications to the Scotland post is the end of next week so Robinson better not wait a couple of weeks before submitting his application! :o) He’s back from France now so will be interested to see if he puts his hat in the ring.
I still hold out hope that a ‘big fish’ from outside this tiny pond sticks an application in. Don’t get me wrong I think Robinson would do a decent job but you risk de-stabilising Edinburgh and the core of a good national team is having strength at club level.
This is a time for ambition by the SRU – I hope that the apparent rush for Robinson by some in the game is not because he is the easy option…