New Scottish rugby chief on 'high ceiling', Ireland similarities, Townsend and why he took the job

David Nucifora said Scotland’s potential to reach a “really high ceiling” convinced him to take on the performance director’s role at Murrayfield and he will now set about trying to achieve here what he did in Ireland.

The former Australia international stepped down in the summer after a decade as high performance director with the IRFU. It was a period of unprecedented success which saw Ireland’s men’s team top the world rankings and win four Six Nations Championships, including two Grand Slams.

Nucifora, 62, said there was “no magic wand” but he believes the raw materials were there to achieve something in Scotland. He has signed up for an initial two years after being persuaded by Scottish Rugby Ltd chairman John McGuigan.

Scotland's new performance director David Nucifora gives his first media conference since being appointed. | SNS Group / SRU

“I really didn't have much intention when I finished in Ireland to take something else on but I had multiple conversations with John McGuigan and I felt that we had similar thoughts about the game and where it could go and what could be done, and I was convinced that there was opportunity here to do something,” said Nucifora. “Obviously I've had a reasonable amount to do with rugby in this part of the world, so I had a reasonable understanding of Scottish rugby and where it was at, but I suppose the temptation of being able to help reshape something that I believe has a very high ceiling was attractive to me.

“The last five weeks I've been here on the ground and I've been really encouraged by what I've seen. I think there is lots of potential and I think that there's a number of things that can be attacked very early on to try and make some reasonably quick improvements, some efficiencies.

“I suppose some people would look at it and say Scotland's way too small to be able to compete on the world stage, but I've got to say that was the same thing that Ireland said to me at the start as well, but I just saw that as a massive opportunity to be able to build something that was totally aligned and efficient the way it functions, and I think that that's a huge opportunity here to be able to get things working cohesively, and it's in that space, I suppose, and the work that I've done to date that I can see that there's a lot of room for us to be able to make that happen. So, I'm excited about it. It's going to be a good challenge. I don't see it as being something that's going to materialise overnight.”

He said the key to success was consistency which comes from solid foundations. The national side under Gregor Townsend have proved themselves capable of achieving eye-catching results and he has the highest win ratio of any Scotland coach in the pro era, but they have struggled to sustain a serious challenge. Their highest finish in the Six Nations has been third place and they have failed to qualify from the pool stage of the last two Rugby World Cups.

Asked how high the ceiling could be for Scotland, Nucifora said: “Well, I think it can be anything you want it to be. The fact is that you've got to build something that has sustainability about it, and I think there's lots of good things being done here.

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend with new performance director David Nucifora. | SNS Group / SRU

“I think Gregor has done a really good job with the team, and I know coming from the other side, coming across, you know that you're going to be in for a really difficult match when you play Scotland, and it's about being able to be consistent, and to be consistent you've got to have a system underneath you that allows that sustainable success that you're chasing, because it's no good just having bursts of success and then dropping off.

“You've got to be there or thereabouts for long periods of time to really consider yourself as being a well-organised, high-performing outfit. So I think we can support what's going on at the top by building from underneath a lot better and doing it really well, and that will give the support to the national team and the professional teams in the country.”

He said the system of bringing through young players was the key to Ireland’s success and that it was essential to create more competition in Scottish rugby by exposing up-and-coming players to tougher challenges. An Emerging Scotland team will play Italy U23 this weekend and a Scotland A side beat Chile last month and there are likely to be more of these types of fixtures under Nucifora’s watch.

“The engine of the Irish system is the pathway,” said Nucifora. “It's the thing that drives it. It does that because a lot of work was put into it over a long period of time to be able to create a system that allowed quality to come through and allowed for a system that created a competitive environment. And when you've got a small playing base, you have to be creative to find ways to create competition. Because if you don't do that, unfortunately, there's a terrible habit in human nature to become comfortable if you don't have competition. So we need to find a way to create that competition, and that's best done by driving people from beneath and getting them ready to compete at the highest levels of the game.”