By Graham Bean

Copyright scotsman

Sir Ian McGeechan has endorsed the decision to extend Gregor Townsend’s contract as Scotland coach and believes he can keep pushing the national side forward. Townsend, who is already the longest serving Scotland head coach of the professional era, signed a new deal earlier this month and will remain in charge until after the next Rugby World Cup in 2027. Sir Ian, who had two spells as Scotland coach, said it was a “brilliant” decision and praised Townsend’s willingness to keep striving for fresh ideas. “I think it’s the right move for Scotland,” he said. “We’ve got a coach here that’s ahead of most, not just in Scotland. And I think he’ll keep pushing the game, which is going to be important, I think.” Townsend, 52, was appointed in 2017 and, statistically, has the best win rate of any Scotland coach, with 53 victories in 94 Tests. But Scotland have also failed to qualify from the pool stage at two World Cups while he has been in charge. He will have the chance to rectify that in Australia in 2027 in what is likely to be his swan-song as Scotland boss. McGeechan recognises the talent in the squad – eight were named in Andy Farrell’s original British and Irish Lions touring party for Australia and another five joined later – but acknowledged that getting all the disparate parts to function optimally at the same time was the tricky part. “It’s like anything, you know,” said the legendary former Lions coach. “You need a good forward performance for a good back group. Scotland have got a good game. And Gregor will say it all the time, it’s just the consistency of execution, in a way, at key moments. We’ve been in enough game-winning positions, just not quite seeing it off, sometimes, seeing it away.” He thinks Scotland will benefit “hugely” from the experience of their Lions players in Australia. Finn Russell, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu and Blair Kinghorn were all involved in the Test series triumph over the Wallabies and McGeechan compared it to the 1997 Lions tour of South Africa when he was head coach and Townsend, Alan Tait, Tom Smith and Rob Wainwright were in the Test team. “Going back to Gregor in 1997, when you play with the very best, it shows you what you can do and what it brings out of yourself,” said McGeechan. “And I think Finn Russell, how he performed with the players he had around him, showed the same. You come back with a confidence, but also I think with a better understanding collectively of what the game can be like and the sort of role you can play.” Sir Ian, who won 32 Scotland caps and now serves as consultant director of rugby with Doncaster Knights, made a welcome return to Murrayfield on Friday when he was at Hive Stadium for the Yorkshire club’s pre-season friendly win over a young Edinburgh side. He was pleased that his team had come out on top but had some words of praise for the hosts who fielded a very a youthful line-up in the first part of a pre-season double header against English Championship opposition, with a more experienced Edinburgh side defeating Ealing later in the evening. “I thought the Edinburgh boys played well, the young boys, so from a Scottish perspective I was quite pleased to see what might be coming through,” said McGeechan who reported that he felt in good health following a prostate cancer diagnosis earlier this year and that he was “all clear at the moment”.