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From rugby365.com
'Not a good day for Scottish rugby'
Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:43
Legendary British & Irish Lions Finlay Calder, Gerald Davies and Fergus Slattery were in Edinburgh on Thursday for an HSBC Lions Legends dinner and had their say on the news of Frank Hadden's resignation as Scotland head coach.
One of Scotland's greatest former British & Irish Lions players, Calder, said, "I am sorry to hear the news but its understandable as he has found himself under enormous pressure. He has come under sometimes unwarranted criticism and I feel for him. I hope he has come to this decision himself and wish him luck."
Calder, who was capped 34 times for Scotland and captained the successful 1989 British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia, continued by saying: "It is very hard to know who might replace him as there is not exactly a queue of people lining up. I very much hope that Andy Robinson (Edinburgh) and Sean Lineen (Glasgow Warriors) might consider the position as they are both doing well with their professional teams.
"I am disappointed for Frank and feel it is not a good day for Scottish Rugby."
Sharing Finlay's sentiment was Fergus Slattery, the former Ireland flank who toured twice with the Lions, including the victorious 1974 Tour to South Africa.
"I am very sad. He was a lovely man and was in a very tough position - not one I would like to be in. Coaching a national side does rely on a certain degree of luck and Scotland have not had a great deal of that recently, and are an average side right now.
Hadden has been there for a few seasons now and not made the kind of progress that either Frank or the Scottish Rugby Union would have liked so its understandable that this has happened, but its still unfortunate."
Gerald Davies, the legendary Welsh and Lions wing who is Tour Manager for this summer's British & Irish Lions Tour to South Africa, added, "This just demonstrates how tough it is at national level for a coach. I didn't know Frank personally but it is such a tough world for coaches nowadays.
"Unlike a manager, it is always the coach who is in the front line and in the spot light which makes it a very hard place to be."
I hope things go well for Scotland. I'd really love to see a resurgent Scottish team. A new coach might be the catalyst for the next generation of Scottish players to claw their way back up to the top. I wonder if, were Mitch to be let go, he would take the Scotland job. I reckon he'd do pretty well in Scotland. His hard-nosed, no nonsense approach would probably be well received. Outside of Perth, I can't think of a better place to live than Edinburgh. It's a beautiful city and at night time it always seems to smell like pies.
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