Beattie standing down as West of Scotland coach

JOHN Beattie is to stand down at the end of this season after five years as the head coach at West of Scotland.

The former Scotland back row and current commentator with the BBC confirmed yesterday he is looking to take a break from the top flight and perhaps coach again at a lower level.

However, Beattie insisted he had seen enough of the club game to believe it was in a healthy state and that as well as more players developing the talent to come through to the professional ranks, he believes the SRU must pay closer attention to the quality of coaches emerging in club rugby.

Beattie said: "I told West of Scotland a month ago that I was stepping down and leaving after five great years at Burnbrae. David McLean and I started with West in Premier 3 and George Breckenridge helped me in Premier 1 this year so I owe massive thank-yous to them.

"The best bits of it have been getting promotion, getting to a cup final, talking to the players from our team and the opposition teams, and also talking to the coaches from the other sides. It's really good to see that young players are identified quickly and given a chance in our country and there are coaches in Premier 1 who should be getting the opportunity to step up to the fully professional ranks."

Looking at the aspects of the job he had not enjoyed, Beattie, now 52, said he was a bigger supporter than ever of suggestions for a significant move of rugby to the better-weather months in Scotland.

"The hard bit for me was standing around in November, December and January," he said. "I honestly think that rugby has to fight off the private school influence and try to play in better weather as Ray Mountford at Stirling and Peter Wright at Hawks, and others, are suggesting."

As for his future, he added: "I am not sure what I want to do now other than I know I won't give up coaching. I'd like to wish good luck to all of the teams as Scotland's rugby clubs and schools promote and nurture rugby, and good luck to West of Scotland, which is a proud club and which I was honoured to be part of. And I wish the club well in its search for a coaching team. I've been really proud to have been part of Premier 1, but I'm looking forward to a summer to relax."