Cotter

[Gog]

As a Welsh supporter I don't watch Scotland as much as I should, but I am impressed how the team has improved over the last couple of years. What do Scottish supporters feel about Cotter not being kept on? He seems to have done a great job. Will Townsend offer more?

[hugh_woatmeigh]

He's definitely brought Scotland on a lot and is an excellent coach. I'd go as far as to say he's been the best coach we've ever had in the decade + a few years I've been watching Scotland play rugby.

He will be missed but I think Toony is the right move as we need to look to step up to the next level. It isn't a fluke that much of Scotland's recent success has coincided with Glasgow's success. I'm particularly excited about McFarland coming in as he has transformed the Glasgow pack & I'm optimistic he can do the same with the Scotland pack. If we start bullying other packs then we'll be a much scarier team to face. Toony's success doesn't just depend on his own coaching team but also hinges on whether Cockerill manages to turn around Edinburgh. At the moment Glasgow are propping up the Scotland team and that isn't acceptable IMO. If Edinburgh start offering more players for international contention, it will create healthy competition and allow us to continue progressing.

My main gripe with him is that a few of his favourites are not justified - there has always been one absolute WTF selection from Vern despite the progress - Simon Berghan, Blair Cowan, etc - guys who will just disappear off the pro rugby radar soon enough if they haven't already.

Given the limited resources at Vern's disposal playing wise - he's done a great job and IMO should have been the lions head coach. He certainly deserves it.

[Big D]

He leaves us in a good space.

He had a horrific 1st 6N and clearly the England result stands out but he's brought us a long way from where we were when he took over.

Under him We are now 4 matched unbeaten at home in the 6N god knows the last time that happened.

That is now 2 4ths in a row in the 6N and this year should have been higher.

We are 3/3 against Argentina in that time.
Won 2-0 in Japan where some countries have slipped up.

We were one mental error away from a WC semi final. Should have thrown to the front.

He has given a lot of players their first caps and for the 1st time in my memory we've had a clear, affective and proven attacking plan. We can score against anyone now.

He leaves a fairly young side ready for Townsend to take on.

Time will tell whether it is the right call. But VC is the best coach we've had for many many a year. I could easily see him being part of the AB set up one day.

[Cameo]

I think he is a great coach and am a bit sad he's leaving. That is tempered a bit by the fact it is townsend replacing him and Dave Rennie is coming in. If I was another country looking for a new coach Id snap him up in a second (and that includes NZ, England etc)

[Big D]

He's rumoured to be on 2.5millon over the life of his 3yr Montpellier deal. Nice work!

[switchskier]

I think that to some extent the admiration for Cotter the man has to be divorced from Cotter the coach. He's done well with us, shown consistent development over his three years in charge and had a clear plan to follow. I'd have been delighted if he'd stayed in for another three years whilst Townsend faced some different challenges and put a little distance between himself and his Glasgow team (I think that publically that's going to become an issue for supporters when we inevitably go through a rough patch).

However I think that everyone sees him as a good, straightforward honest person and that goes a long way in terms of reputation (and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that he isn't). The players obviously respected him and he got the media engagement spot on, not too chummy but not distant and hostile either. In a different environment it would have been the cliche of not knowing how to deal with a straightforward bloke.

[Lizard]

Yer mad losing Vern. Under the previous regime you scored something like 0.6 tries per match against the top 8 sides. With him you got over 2/match.

Madness.

[whatisthejava]

Yer mad losing Vern. Under the previous regime you scored something like 0.6 tries per match against the top 8 sides. With him you got over 2/match.

Madness.

SRU had to make a pretty horrible decision to either keep Cotter and lose Toonie (the most qualified scottish coach) or lose Cotter.

Who would want to make that decision and if Toonie disappeared off and popped up coaching we would lose his coaching ability. Toonie does a lot more than just coach a pro team, he gives pro master classes to mini coaches and is a driving force behind the growth mindset shift we see starting to happen in Scotland.

[Mikey Brown]

Yer mad losing Vern. Under the previous regime you scored something like 0.6 tries per match against the top 8 sides. With him you got over 2/match.

Madness.

SRU had to make a pretty horrible decision to either keep Cotter and lose Toonie (the most qualified scottish coach) or lose Cotter.

Who would want to make that decision and if Toonie disappeared off and popped up coaching we would lose his coaching ability. Toonie does a lot more than just coach a pro team, he gives pro master classes to mini coaches and is a driving force behind the growth mindset shift we see starting to happen in Scotland.

I'm sad to see Cotter go (despite his continuous wildcard selection) but that's pretty much how I see it. Though I have to just believe we know that scenario to be the case. Was it made clear that Townsend would have been off and that decision absolutely had to be made?

I wouldn't have been against Cotter but there is certainly some hope with the Townsend, Rennie, Cockerill combo. Though the latter really could go either way.

[Big D]

Yer mad losing Vern. Under the previous regime you scored something like 0.6 tries per match against the top 8 sides. With him you got over 2/match.

Madness.

SRU had to make a pretty horrible decision to either keep Cotter and lose Toonie (the most qualified scottish coach) or lose Cotter.

Who would want to make that decision and if Toonie disappeared off and popped up coaching we would lose his coaching ability. Toonie does a lot more than just coach a pro team, he gives pro master classes to mini coaches and is a driving force behind the growth mindset shift we see starting to happen in Scotland.

To be fair, that is a role that the pro coaches have carried out before Townsend and I would hope will continue.

Stevie Scott regularly holds or at least had regularly held forwards clinics. Don't care if Hodge has, backs stuff is for folk not tough enough for the engine room.

A part of me would like to have seen what Townsend could have done elsewhere.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Yer mad losing Vern. Under the previous regime you scored something like 0.6 tries per match against the top 8 sides. With him you got over 2/match.

Madness.

And you're mad to think that's all down to Vern. He has done a brilliant job but he also has the best generation of Scottish players in the last decade or two... At least from an attacking PoV. They score tries for fun at Glasgow.

[Big D]

Question.

How much of the praise that VC is getting should be directed at Jason O'Halloran? It's only since he has come in that out attacking shape and play has been much improved.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Question.

How much of the praise that VC is getting should be directed at Jason O'Halloran? It's only since he has come in that out attacking shape and play has been much improved.

Good point. VC did a great job but some of the praise is way over the top. I'm much more excited by McFarland & Toony.

[Big D]

I'm starting to think I'd rather O'Halloran was staying on as part of the set up.

[whatisthejava]

I'm starting to think I'd rather O'Halloran was staying on as part of the set up.

is OHalloran not going to Glasgow ?

[Big D]

I'm starting to think I'd rather O'Halloran was staying on as part of the set up.

is OHalloran not going to Glasgow ?

Aye, that's a great deal for Glasgow. In Rennie and JO'H they have two very good coaches.

But IMO since the WC and
Hodge was punted the national team attacking threat and patterns have improved greatly in 18months. Would have liked to see what he could do if he continued in the role.

[ARM]

I'm starting to think I'd rather O'Halloran was staying on as part of the set up.

is OHalloran not going to Glasgow ?

Aye, that's a great deal for Glasgow. In Rennie and JO'H they have two very good coaches.

But IMO since the WC and
Hodge was punted the national team attacking threat and patterns have improved greatly in 18months. Would have liked to see what he could do if he continued in the role.

I'm delighted with JO'H moving to Weeg but his time with Scotland has also coincided with the likes of Hogg and Seymour performing consistently well and the emergence of Russell.