We want Gregor to stay on, says Scottish Rugby chief as he backs Townsend despite disappointing Six Nations... and having highly-rated Franco Smith waiting in the wings

Scottish Rugby chief executive Alex Williamson claims Gregor Townsend is still the man to lead Scotland forward.

Townsend’s contract as head coach expires next spring, with the former fly-half saying at the weekend that talks have yet to begin over a possible extension.

Williamson, though, wants Townsend to stay on despite this season’s disappointing Six Nations campaign and plans on sitting down with him during the summer tour to New Zealand and Fiji to discuss the details.

And the former House of Fraser CEO is also eager for Franco Smith - who many thought was set to replace Townsend next year - and Sean Everitt to also continue as Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh head coaches, respectively, beyond their current tenure.

Whether that appeals to Smith remains to be seen, with the ambitious coach having been linked with some top jobs of late.

Williamson also revealed that David Nucifora won’t be extending his stint as performance director beyond the initial two-year agreement.

And he wants whoever comes in to succeed the Australian to arrive at a scenario where there is stability among the key coaching staff.

He said: ‘We know that David is going in a relatively short time frame from now, some time towards the end of next year.

‘So, the key hire is going to be a performance director who is willing to stick to the plan.

‘We cannot afford to bring a performance director in who’s then going to basically say ‘I don’t really like that plan we’ll do another one’. We can’t do that.

‘So, off the back of that we absolutely want continuity with the coaches and we really like the three guys we’ve got and we’d really like to keep them.

‘I haven’t actually given that any thought [to either Townsend or Smith succeeding Nucifora]. I think that those three men’s coaches, I anticipate them being our coaching team. That’s my preference, in the same roles as now.

‘I’m touring with Scotland and I’m going to have plenty of time with Gregor [to hold discussions]. His manager is in New Zealand as well so that’s all helpful. And we’re talking to Franco and Sean as well.

‘Because I haven’t had the conversation with [Townsend] I really want to recognize there’s a two-way flow here but we really like the idea of the continuity of the three guys here.

‘When we identify a new performance director we would really like to have continuity in the coaching already nailed down so that the first thing they’re not doing is hiring new coaches.’

That news will come as a disappointment to some supporters who had hoped for a change at the top after eight years of Townsend.

But Williamson believes the former Glasgow boss is still the right man to lead the country to the next World Cup and beyond.

‘I think that we’d all accept that there were a number of games last season whether it be South Africa, England or France, where Scotland were one very small twist away from some great outcomes off the back of some exceptional rugby.

‘And also the feedback from the players through the review that Gregor does was very good. 

'I genuinely believe that he has the potential to produce our best outcomes going forward so that’s why we’re excited to have Gregor remain on the team. And we also really think that Franco and Sean will continue to develop the quality of our player groups through the clubs.’

Smith expressed his frustration recently over the decision not to retain some of his foreign players like Henco Venter in favour of a focus on Scottish-qualified talent but Williamson had no truck with that.

‘When we’re talking about Franco we absolutely want him in. In fact I fully respect his emotional frustrations. You kind of want your coaches to be loaded and charged and emotional and frustrated, particularly in moments like those, but I don’t actually think there is a huge gap between what Franco wants and what we’re talking about.

‘The challenge is probably that the structures aren’t bedded in and as a consequence we’ve not really had the opportunity to test and stress test the thinking. We all believe that there is a place for foreign players, they just have to be the right ones in the right moments.’