Scotland: Gregor Townsend has earned new Scotland deal in fickle world of elite rugby
- Published
Gregor Townsend will stay on as Scotland head coach until April 2026
Finally, they got there. After Scottish Rugby's own version of a Mexican stand-off, where Gregor Townsend was looking at a possible future in France if there was no offer coming from the parent body and the SRU was looking at other possibilities in New Zealand if they thought there was no future in Townsend, they've got it sorted.
Townsend is staying until 2026, his deal expiring just after the Six Nations, and a year out from the World Cup. It's the right call. Townsend has inched Scotland forward since 2017. It's been brutally hard, in the brutal environment of elite rugby, but he's done a fine job.
Most Scotland fans would have been glad when the news dropped on Tuesday morning. Sources close to the negotiations have been saying for months that this was always the most likely scenario, but it took a while. Rushing these things is rarely a good idea.
The whole episode reminds you of the unpredictability of elite sport, the narrow margins and fickle nature of it. Townsend, himself, has embodied that over the last year and a bit.
Everybody has been on a rollercoaster with him this past while. Last March, he looked a troubled man. Scotland had just endured a poor Six Nations, culminating with a dull loss to Ireland in Dublin against a backdrop of the Boozegate saga that had featured his captain, Stuart Hogg, his best player, Finn Russell, and four others.
Stock in Townsend was so low at the time you couldn't give it away. As he tried to deal with the fallout, he came across as a man under severe pressure. You actually felt for him. It wasn't his fault that his players had gone rogue, but he was the one in the firing line.
The tour to Argentina in summer 2022 seemed like a positive affair in terms of morale, but it had a negative endgame. Scotland should have won that three-Test series, but they lost the decider. That was five defeats in eight games for the year so far.
The autumn came along and more turbulence came with it. Townsend picked three fly-halves in his wider squad, but Russell wasn't among them. For reasons of form and consistency, he was out, but Ross Thompson, who had scarcely played for Glasgow Warriors all season, was in.
Russell had had a substandard Six Nations in 2022, but fourth-choice fly-half? It made no sense and the more Townsend spoke about it, the more testy things became, the less logical it appeared.
Finn Russell was initially left out the autumn test series by Gregor Townsend
Had you taken a straw poll of Scotland fans about Townsend's future in that moment then the results may have been grim for the coach.
In the autumn, his team lost to Australia and beat Fiji. It was only an injury to Adam Hastings in the latter that made him turn to Russell, who promptly lit the place up for the rest of the autumn, which in turn saw Scotland go on to have a really encouraging Six Nations.
You thought of big Ratu Rotuisolia's role in all of this. Had Fiji's 19st lock not marmalised Hastings in that tackle, which induced whiplash and a damaged knee, would Townsend have called on Russell in the emergency, would the rest of the autumn have gone so well, would the Six Nations have been so positive, would Townsend have been given a new deal?
From the autumn to the spring, Townsend went from reading - or maybe not - angry calls for his head to reading - or maybe not - vociferous demands that he be given an extended deal. He lives in a volatile world. It's a capricious existence at his level and he gets it. Navigating his way through the mayhem has been a particular skill of Townsend. He deserves his extended stay. He's earned it.
The countdown to the World Cup has already begun with the announcement of his wider training squad on Tuesday. There are four warm-up matches lined-up in July and August, then Ireland and South Africa to contend with in the group of near-certain-death in the tournament proper.
We know that Townsend will be here beyond that, whatever 'beyond' looks like. His own story in recent times tells us that making predictions about what lies ahead is unwise. If there's one probability, though, it's that none of it will be boring.