Leon MacDonald coy over Scotland link amid claims SRU want him to replace Gregor Townsend

Leon MacDonald, the New Zealander linked with replacing Gregor Townsend as Scotland head coach, remained coy when questioned about the potential move on Friday.

The 45-year-old Kiwi is currently in charge of the Auckland Blues Super Rugby side and also led an All Blacks reserve side that defeated Ireland A 41-19 in Dublin and lost 35-31 to the Barbarians in London.

According to a recent report in the Daily Mail, the 56-times capped All Black is the number one target to replace Townsend after this year's World Cup and has held talks with SRU chief Mark Dodson to that effect.

He has also been linked with the New Zealand assistant coach role following the appointment of new head coach Scott Robertson earlier this week.

Townsend addressed his own future in the aftermath of an impressive Six Nations campaign that saw Scotland claim a third place finish behind Grand Slam winners Ireland and France - the top two ranked teams in the world.

"There’s conversations that have started and they’ll start up again after some time off. We’ll see how they develop,” he said in the aftermath of the win over Italy at Murrayfield.

MacDonald, when asked by media in New Zealand whether he was in a position of weighing up offers from both Scotland and the All Blacks, appeared to get flustered and initially stumbled over his words before replying: "Not really. You're coaxing me into saying too much already. In a week or two when the dust settles it will be a lot easier to have a proper conversation instead of trying to avoid saying something that's going to become a headline."