Parting of the ways was inevitable for an honourable man in the wrong job

Published on Thursday 2 April 2009 23:35

THE SCOTLAND rugby team is experiencing its worst decade of results in history and many will feel that changing the head coach is unlikely to effect any swift upturn, however, the recent run under Frank Hadden left the Scottish Rugby Union with little choice.

The players have been quick to hold up their hands and admit that they have been chiefly to blame for an inability to execute what they practice and hold on to the ball long enough to turn their undoubted promise into victories in the international arena, but that perhaps points as much to their loyalty towards a coach they have a lot of time for as it does to the belief that he is the best man for the job. It is also a fact of team sport that players rarely pay the ultimate price; coaches do.

Scotland's record in the championship stands at 29 per cent for the past ten years to 2000. If we take out the results with Italy, to provide a comparison with previous decades, it falls to 26.25 per cent – below the previous worst ten-year spell of the 1950s. Matt Williams was easily the worst culprit among coaches, Hadden's predecessor having a 10 per cent success rate in the championship. Ian McGeechan's period from 2000-2003 had a 48 percent figure and Hadden's stood at 30 per cent.

There are many reasons why Scottish rugby is struggling to compete on the world stage, from a serious lack of finance, poor facilities, numbers playing the game, questionable development plans etc etc, but none of that was the Scotland coach's remit. Hadden's role was to get the best out of the players at his disposal and improve performances and with that tough, but clear challenge he was failing.

Hadden is a nice man, a quiet, thoughtful individual; someone who cares passionately about rugby and Scottish rugby in particular, and who has a strong technical knowledge, almost trainspotter-like enthusiasm for the minutiae of the game.

Those traits were seized on in 2005 as the perfect antithesis to what had gone before – a voluble Australian who upsets players, supporters and coaches across Scotland with regular condemnation of the game and a reluctance to work with, and suspicion of, rugby people in Scotland. It has been said that being 'not Matt Williams' was the keenest aspect of the job description and Hadden, passed over by McGeechan and Jim Telfer in favour of the Australian in 2003, fitted that to a tee.

With Scottish rugby going through incredible turmoil off the park as a new governance structure, new board and chief executives emerged, the Scottish game needed a figure to mend bridges, revive belief and instil new confidence and, for that, Hadden was the ideal choice.

He was also immediately available and less expensive than most other possibilities. The fact that he was uncomfortable in the public spotlight, struggling with media relations even at Edinburgh, had not managed to build on the success achieved in steering the club to the Heineken Cup quarter-finals in 2004 and had no experience of the international game were given less priority. Hadden's period in charge started promisingly with the former PE teacher working hard to create belief in his squads and urging players to throw off the ever-tightening shackles of the Williams' era. Players loved it and responded, narrowly losing to Argentina, beating Samoa and losing 29-10 to New Zealand in his first autumn Test series.

The Six Nations campaign was even better. It started with a 20-16 win over a struggling France side at Murrayfield, continued with an 28-18 defeat to Wales in Cardiff that was largely attributed to Scott Murray's early red card and an 18-12 Calcutta Cup victory at Murrayfield – the first in six years and only second in 16 – suggesting some truth in that.

Scotland lost narrowly in Ireland and scraped home in Italy for three wins. That summer Hadden's team was sorely opened up in the first Test in South Africa and could have lost by more than the 26-16 scoreline, but they deserved more from a battling second Test in Port Elizabeth than a 29-15 defeat. Yet the test always comes for coaches in the second year, when the new broom novelty factor has worn off with his own players and the element of surprise gone for the opposition. The team was becoming reliant on Chris Paterson's kicking to gloss over a shortage of tries, and the question for Hadden was could he, tactically, take the forward?

He tried a more physical approach in 2006-7 in which Rob Dewey and Nikki Walker came into the side and Dan Parks called the shots at stand-off, and the next Six Nations opened with a 42-20 thumping at Twickenham, a Paterson-goaled 21-9 win over Wales and disaster of an opening six minutes against Italy, in which the Azzurri ran into a 21-0 lead aided by a charged-down kick on Phil Godman and interceptions of Chris Cusiter passes. Few will forget that day and the 37-17 defeat remains a nadir in Hadden's tenure, but one that underlines how player failings have played a major role in his fate.

After a narrow defeat to Ireland in the Ronan O'Gara "choker-gate" and a 46-19 humbling in France, Hadden could not wait to get his players into Murrayfield for a summer camp with a difference. This was where Hadden was good. He pulled together resources across Scotland, from the Institute of Sport, physios, specialist coaches and sports psychologists, to create a much more physical squad, and his nature managed to get a lot of help at little expense as he persuaded people to pull together for the World Cup campaign.

But in the tournament itself his tactical ability to move the team forward was questioned. He attracted criticism for fielding a second-string Scotland team against New Zealand in the big Murrayfield match some had paid over 170 a ticket to see. Yet many coaches would have done the same with only six days before the crucial pool decider with Italy back in France.

On a wet night, Scotland's progress hinged on Italy missing a late penalty and Paterson nailing all six of his. Hadden had succeeded in maintaining Scotland's record of reaching the quarter-finals of every tournament, but a week later he and his players were regretting the fact that they did not realise they could have gone further, that they could have beaten a one-dimensional Argentina team in the quarter-finals, had they played with more ambition.

Hadden deliberated over whether to continue as head coach at the end of 2007, but determined that he could move the team to a new level with a squad he felt was the most talented for some time. Scotland duly lost four of their five Six Nations matches – the win, bizarrely, coming against England thanks to five penalties.

There were signs he was struggling to know which way to turn next. Even the second Test win in Argentina added to this – temporary assistants Andy Robinson, who had worked with players ahead of the Calcutta Cup win, and Sean Lineen had helped change tack from the poor first Test display with a more open, Phil Godman-led approach.

This season was Hadden's crossroads; the one where he had to convince. His first year had earned him another two, but his third produced few signs of a team able to make the most of its talent. The new style of play seemed more suited to the players he had, and signs of genuine promise emerged in autumn Tests with New Zealand and South Africa as a Euan Murray-inspired pack set the platform to beat the Boks and Scotland just failed. And so the Six Nations was again the proving ground and Scotland went in with real optimism. The loss of Murray, Nathan Hines and Rory Lamont to injury were big blows, Scotland were well below-par in the opener against Wales and a series of strange selections sucked inspiration from the team.

Everything was stacking up against Hadden. He was even handing over more say to assistant coaches Mike Brewer and Graham Steadman than he has ever been known to do, and even some of their decisions flew back in his face. Frank Hadden is an honourable man, but he ultimately ran out of ideas and inspiration to lift Scotland from its slump in Test rugby and that was the job.

IN NUMBERS

• 30% win ratio in 6 Nations

• 39% in all games

• 41 Tests as head coach

• 16 wins

• 25 defeats

PE teacher's rise to the top followed by fall from grace

• 1954: Born 14 June, in Dundee.

• 1983: Becomes PE teacher and director of rugby at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh after spell as a teacher at Guiseley School, West Yorkshire, and an unspectacular playing career with Dundee HSFP. During his time at Merchiston, Hadden transforms them into Scotland's top rugby school.

• 1997: Named assistant coach with Caledonia Reds.

• 2000: Appointed head coach of Edinburgh Rugby.

• 2004: Becomes first coach to take a Scottish professional team to the Heineken Cup quarter-finals but his Edinburgh side are defeated by Toulouse.

• 2005: April – Appointed as Scotland interim head coach after the sacking of Matt Williams and is confirmed as new head coach on 15 September after masterminding wins over Barbarians and Romania. November – Scotland lose Hadden's first game in permanent charge 23-19 to Argentina at Murrayfield before he records first win with an 18-11 home victory over Samoa.

• 2006: February – Hadden wins first Six Nations game in charge of Scotland with a famous 20-16 victory over France at Murrayfield and then masterminds an 18-12 win over world champions England at Murrayfield, Scotland's first Calcutta Cup win since 2000.

March – Scotland beat Italy 13-10 in Rome to seal third place in the Six Nations, their best finish since 2001.

• 2007: February – Italy stun Scotland with three tries in the first six minutes of their Six Nations match at Murrayfield. The visitors go on to win 37-17, their first away victory in the tournament.

March – Scotland finish bottom of the Six Nations with just one victory from five games.

September – Scotland win decisive World Cup pool match against Italy 18-16 to reach the quarter-finals.

October – Scotland lose 13-9 to Argentina in their World Cup quarter-final at the Stade de France.

December – Hadden agrees a new rolling contract, with his position subject to review after every major tournament.

• 2008: March – After losing their opening three Six Nations games, Scotland beat England 15-9 at Murrayfield to reclaim the Calcutta Cup. A week later, Scotland suffer a 23-20 defeat to Italy in Rome but they manage to narrowly avoid a second successive wooden spoon on points difference. June – Scotland record their first ever Test victory in Argentina, winning the second Test 26-14 to draw the two-match series 1-1.

November – Scotland blow a 10-0 half-time lead to lose 14-10 to the world champions South Africa at Murrayfield.

• 2009: March – Scotland lose 26-12 to England at Twickenham to finish fifth in the Six Nations championship with just a solitary victory over Italy.

2 April – The SRU announces that Hadden has stepped down as Scotland head coach with immediate effect.