Johnson set for talks with SRU over coaching future

SCOTT Johnson is preparing to meet the Scottish Rugby Union to discuss his future as the national team’s head coach and insists he will hold no grudges if his employers decide he is not the right man for the job.

Johnson steered Scotland into a respectable third spot in the RBS Six Nations, although the early successes against Italy and Ireland have been tempered by last weekend’s loss to eventual champions Wales and Saturday’s concluding 23-16 defeat by France in Paris. The popular Australian, who took over from Andy Robinson in January, had appeared certain to stay in charge of Scotland on an interim basis until the end of this summer’s tour to South Africa at the very least, but he hinted yesterday that his future may be resolved one way or the other before then.

“I said when I took on the job we would view it at the end, so I will sit down with the appropriate people. You can’t look into it anymore than that,” he told The Scotsman. “My situation hasn’t changed since January. We’ll sit down and talk. We’ve just finished the tournament and we’re feeling a bit of pain. There is a high probability I’ll be involved in the summer tour. There are a lot of ifs and buts, but I just want to sit down and make a decision that is in the best interests of Scotland. If that’s without me then I’m big and ugly enough to cop it on the chin.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The intention is probably to do the summer tour but I haven’t sat down and gone through it with them [the SRU] so I don’t know where it sits with them.

“If I am to play a part, then I will be happy to play a part. What that part is, well that will be part me, part them. I want the best for Scotland. I want Scotland to be a really good rugby nation again.”

Three Scotland players will require further medical assessment when they return to their clubs. Team doctor James Robson said on the squad’s return to Murrayfield yesterday that Glasgow winger Sean Maitland (right leg muscle injury) and full-back Stuart Hogg (knee strain) as well as substitute winger Max Evans, of Castres, who had a “possible mild concussive episode which only became evident after the game”, would be in the care of their club medical teams this week.

Related topics: