Eeny, mean, miny, sex?
So the season is almost over and with only the competition final, Edinburgh, who since at least February 24, 2023, and probably even earlier, that they needed a new head coach for the 2023-2024 season, is still motionless. Or are they?
Here at Burgh Watch HQ We, (well, I) have put our best (only) researcher at the work and added 2 +2 and think of 1872.
Here the theory (Crackpot idea), Edinburgh has already closed a deal for a new head coach, but because the man they have selected is currently contracted in a country that will participate in the WC, the SRU has either agreed to retain that country. Whistle on 7/10/23.
So with those sturdy foundations that have been laid here, there are some suggestions about who is perhaps a decent fit and an assessment of the chance that they take on the role of Edinburgh head coach.
As a further limiter I did not look at head coaches. Those who can regard Edinburgh as an improvement are not who we want and those we want to be as ‘aye, that will be right’. As an example Japan coach Jamie Joseph may be in the last category, but Georgia head coach Merab Maishavilli is probably not someone we would shortlist.
So it’s defense or attack coaches we look at.
Mike Catt. The former man from England is currently assistant coach at Ireland and has done defense cakes in Italy in an earlier existence in Italy. He started his coaching career at London Irish with a player/coaching role before playing an attack coach role at England under Stuart Lancaster. He has been with Ireland for 4 years now, which is his longest enchantment in one of his coaching jobs. There is nothing that suggests that he will continue after the World Cup, but he has never had a head coach role, so if he has an ambition in that respect, Edinburgh can be a good destination.
Scott McLeod is the current All Blacks seizure coach and a former NZ International. After the World Cup, he will be thrown overboard with Scott Robertson who takes over Ian Foster and brings in his own team in the form of Leon Macdonald, Jason Donald and Scott Hansen. Before he was set up at the AB, McLeod had been a skills coach at Waikato Chiefs. Of course the three names mentioned leaves gaps at their super rugby clubs and the rumor is that McLeod is Hurricanes Bound.
Steve Tandy is the current Defense Coach of Scotland and his previous coaching tribe includes winning the Pro12 as head coach at Ospreys in 2012. He also led the province of Welsh to 2 semi -finals before taking a position as Waratah Defense Coach in 2018. Townsend was locked up for the Evil with his eye for that period for that period? It would be a very SRU movement.
Matt Taylor. The current Australia Defense Coach. He played between 2000-2002 for Edinburgh (player no. 1020). He was a defense coach at Queensland Reds when they won the super rugby title and were in the same role in Glasgow when they won the Pro12. He was assistant Scotland coach between 2017 – 2019 before he was poached by Dave Rennie to go home and to take a role of defense coach at the Wallabies. Rennie has now been thrown away in favor of former English coach Eddie Jones, who simply does not seem like a long -term relationship.
Alex King. Speaking of short -term arrangements, I don’t see Gatland being in Wales long, so maybe his attack coach can become available at the end of their probably short toilet trip. King was a flying half with wasps and Clermont and was also covered by England. Since then he has had defense and backs coach roles with Clermont, Northampton, Montpellier and Gloucester.
John Dalziel has been an assistant/Vooruit Coach at Scotland since 2020. He was previously at Glasgow as a coach of Forwards and was head coach at Scotland 7s for that. See Steve Tandy why this can be an option.
I also loved the appearance of the former Munster Felix Jones, who is currently a defense coach at South Africa, but he takes part in the England set up after the toilet.
Along the way a few other names have been presented. These are not world cup coaches, but may be in the running.
Clark Laidlaw is the son of Roy Laidlaw and is currently the coach of New Zealand 7. He has been living in New -Zeeland since 2008 and stands for the aforementioned Super Rugby vacancies. Brad Davis is the defense coach at London Irish and with the capital that is another English club whose future is in doubt that he might be interested in any stability.
In the end, these are all trained photos in the dark, but the World Cup -thing can just retain water. Consider this. The pattern is that Edinburgh takes their time to get the right man. Although that is commendable, how long do we need if it is only due diligence that keeps things up? We are 3 months and count. Have we not had 3 prime ministers in a similar time frame? Mind you, that is such a good reason to take your time.
Let’s face it, Edinburgh’s head coach is a decent task, but it is not a great job, so the shortlist could have been returned fairly quickly. An interview, an offer and if you have brought yourself forward before the post or shown interest once approached, we would definitely want a decision Toot Suite. If the answer is: ‘I have changed ideas’ we can go back to the drawing table. Of course, if paragraph 3 of this article is accurate in any way, the delay is fairly easy to explain.
Or, and this is a cynical view. We have someone, but it is not a name to get the pulse racing, so with seasonal card sales that are now underway, it is thinking that we continue to suspend faith until we are ‘everything in’ for the coming season.
If this is all smoke and mirrors, I will pretend that it never happened.
#Slow #coach #coach