Adviser role 'noise Townsend could do without'

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend will spend 30 days a year working for the Red Bull group

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend's new role with Red Bull is an unwelcome distraction heading into a crucial period for the national team, according to former Scotland Sevens captain Colin Gregor.

Townsend will spend 30 days a year working on Red Bull's global rugby strategy in a non-executive position. Newcastle are the only rugby club in their portfolio.

Having spent eight years with Scotland, Townsend recently signed a new deal that will take him through the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia, a move that was met with a mixed response from Scotland fans.

"It's more noise that I think Gregor and Scottish Rugby could probably do without," Gregor told the BBC's Scotland Rugby Podcast.

"Gregor's almost on a seesaw - he's in favour, he's out of favour.

"It's not like he has 100% of the Scottish rugby population backing him. There is still that perception that he has flattered to deceive when it comes to the big games, when it comes to World Cups, when it comes to getting to the business end of Six Nations."

Scotland take on the United States, New Zealand, Argentina and Tonga at Murrayfield in the Autumn Nations Series, with the first fixture against the Americans in a little over three weeks.

Colin Gregor believes the timing of the announcement of Townsend's dual role is problematic.

"I'm intrigued as to how it came about," said the former Glasgow Warriors half-back.

"Did Gregor go to Scottish Rugby and say, 'I've been approached about this'? Did Red Bull go to Scottish Rugby, and then from a Scottish Rugby perspective, if they said no, what are they losing really?

"Potentially this wealth of knowledge and expertise from high performance, but they've just overhauled their whole performance department to bring that into Scottish Rugby. So how come they need to access more of that?

"You just think actually you're losing some of the focus of your head coach and only a month or so before it's autumn internationals and into Six Nations, the busy period for Scotland's head coach.

"It's the whole manner in which it's come about, it's just a struggle to kind of understand it."