Vern Cotter

Any coach who can take a side to 5th in the world with only 2 players deemed good enough for the entire lions squad must be by some distance the greatest coach on earth

And then you go and sack him

Griff wrote:And then you go and sack him

Woah there! We didn't sack him! The eejits in the SRU did!

We're just as perplexed by the whole situation as you are!

Griff wrote:And then you go and sack him

You can't go giving Scottish fans a reason to be cheerful. It brings them out in hives.

He had to go!

tigertattie wrote:

Griff wrote:And then you go and sack him

Woah there! We didn't sack him! The eejits in the SRU did!

We're just as perplexed by the whole situation as you are!

Obviously the SRU. When I said 'you' I didn't mean 606 posters.

Actually, I did sack him.

Sorry everyone.

Was he actually sacked? Or did they not offer a new contract?

carpet baboon wrote:Was he actually sacked? Or did they not offer a new contract?

The second and I'm not sure he would have accepted anyway. Perhaps they even did offer one.

True he could have told them he had an offer elsewhere and he wanted to go. It's a shame i liked the gruff barsteward

carpet baboon wrote:True he could have told them he had an offer elsewhere and he wanted to go. It's a shame i liked the gruff barsteward

As I understand it the SRU were worried they were going to lose Townsend so opted to promote him as a carrot. Which left Cotter facing a demotion to stay, so he opted to take the Montpelier cash instead

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:

carpet baboon wrote:True he could have told them he had an offer elsewhere and he wanted to go. It's a shame i liked the gruff barsteward

As I understand it the SRU were worried they were going to lose Townsend so opted to promote him as a carrot. Which left Cotter facing a demotion to stay, so he opted to take the Montpelier cash instead

Bit harsh on cotter. Can understand them wanting to keep Townsend but surly some deal could of been struck for them both

Good on SRU for backing their own

Unlike England, Wales and Ireland

I'm not too worried. Toonie is an excellent coach and I'm sure he'll do just fine with Scotland. Having said that, a worry of losing him in the future strikes me as a little weird: I'm sure he'd have been just as happy to take on the top job a couple more years down the line.

Here's also hoping Cotter can get Montpellier moving on from the dour style of play they developed under White, they used to be such an attractive team to watch...

Montpellier were playing that style with Trinh-Duc at 10.
I am sure that Townsend will do fine, but does seem strange that they couldn't get VC and Greg working together!

propdavid_london wrote:Montpellier were playing that style with Trinh-Duc at 10.
I am sure that Townsend will do fine, but does seem strange that they couldn't get VC and Greg working together!

I would have let Toonie go to France, or England or wherever he wanted to go. He would always always always come back to the Scotland job. He could have gone out, earned a bit of cash, gained more experience and returned to Scotland a more rounded coach.

This would have allowed Cotter to go onto the next RWC cycle and finish what he started.

Rennie and Cockers at Glasgow and Edinburgh are great coaches and they both will bring exactly what the 2 scottish pro clubs need. However I would have retained Cotter.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:I would have let Toonie go to France, or England or wherever he wanted to go. He would always always always come back to the Scotland job. He could have gone out, earned a bit of cash, gained more experience and returned to Scotland a more rounded coach.

This would have allowed Cotter to go onto the next RWC cycle and finish what he started.

Rennie and Cockers at Glasgow and Edinburgh are great coaches and they both will bring exactly what the 2 scottish pro clubs need. However I would have retained Cotter.

I think a lot if not most Scotland fans completely agree Radge, there is simply no way Toonie would've turned down the Scotland job in a few years after going off and getting more experience in England or France. The SRU could probably have hinted to him that it would be a good idea to seek a contract that is the same length as whatever extension was to be offered to Cotter.

Its an opportunity missed, but hey ho its done now and we move on.

Lol the Scots still celebrating a fourth place finish.

mikey_dragon wrote:Lol the Scots still celebrating a fourth place finish.

Why shouldn't they! Just missed 5th by a whisker and look at the goodies that befell that side.

SecretFly wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:Lol the Scots still celebrating a fourth place finish.

Why shouldn't they!  Just missed 5th by a whisker and look at the goodies that befell that side.

It's better to get a top place finish and that's something Cotter's side haven't got. By the way, 22-9 .

mikey_dragon wrote:

SecretFly wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:Lol the Scots still celebrating a fourth place finish.

Why shouldn't they!  Just missed 5th by a whisker and look at the goodies that befell that side.

It's better to get a top place finish and that's something Cotter's side haven't got. By the way, 22-9 .

Aren't you glad that ravishing form didn't continue! Had you made it to 2nd, you'd have gotten one less Lion than you have now!

5th...it's a magic number

So, the culmination of Cotter's tenure sees a whopping fourth place finish, whilst Joe Schmidt loses the Ireland dressing room along with his monocle. At least Gatland is back with Wales next year - back to winning ways for Wales next season, right after their players carry everyone else to a Lions series win (again) .

mikey_dragon wrote:So, the culmination of Cotter's tenure sees a whopping fourth place finish, whilst Joe Schmidt loses the Ireland dressing room along with his monocle. At least Gatland is back with Wales next year - back to winning ways for Wales next season, right after their players carry everyone else to a Lions series win (again) .

The worst part of this is that I'm not entirely sure this is supposed to be a joke.

Ah Mikey is spikey in his passionate Welsh way.... but he likes a laugh.

mikey_dragon wrote:So, the culmination of Cotter's tenure sees a whopping fourth place finish, whilst Joe Schmidt loses the Ireland dressing room along with his monocle. At least Gatland is back with Wales next year - back to winning ways for Wales next season, right after their players carry everyone else to a Lions series win (again) .

If Gatland wins the series (nurse, my medication!) the NZRU will be ripping up his return ticket to Wales and asking him how many zeroes should be put on his cheque. Their money is safe though.

NZ can't afford to steal from the NH. We just take the unsuccessful dregs like Henry and Hansen.

nganboy wrote:NZ can't afford to steal from the NH. We just take the unsuccessful dregs like Henry and Hansen.

Have you spent all that Lord of the Rings money already?

Cyril wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:So, the culmination of Cotter's tenure sees a whopping fourth place finish, whilst Joe Schmidt loses the Ireland dressing room along with his monocle. At least Gatland is back with Wales next year - back to winning ways for Wales next season, right after their players carry everyone else to a Lions series win (again) .

If Gatland wins the series (nurse, my medication!) the NZRU will be ripping up his return ticket to Wales and asking him how many zeroes should be put on his cheque. Their money is safe though.

If Galtand loses the series (3 - 0) the WRU will be selling him at a bargain rate on a street corner in Aukland, hoping to save their share of the Lions funding needed to get him back to Heathrow.