GREGOR Townsend insisted yesterday that no-one from the British and Irish Lions had spoken to him about his involvement on next year’s tour to New Zealand, in the wake of speculation that he would be an assistant coach to Warren Gatland along with Steve Borthwick and Paul Gustard.
The Glasgow Warriors coach will take over the Scotland job from Vern Cotter next June, and will be on tour with the national team.
That tour and the Lions’ series against New Zealand are expected to overlap, and, while Townsend did not definitively rule out a role with the Lions, it would appear impossible for him to have a hands-on role.
Read more: British and Irish Lions coach for New Zealand tour to be named on 7 September
“No-one has spoken to me about Lions coaching,” Townsend said at the PRO12 launch in Dublin. “I’ve never coached the Lions before. I’m unavailable as a player, that’s for sure.”
Townsend will have one more season with the Warriors before handing over to Dave Rennie, who in turn will be in charge of the Chiefs in New Zealand for one more Super Rugby season. Townsend’s first real task in his new post will therefore be to lead Scotland on their tour, which is expected to include games in Australia and possibly Fiji.
Read more: McInally and Gilchrist to share Edinburgh captaincy
“That would be the plan, that after the Six Nations and obviously after the Glasgow season is finished, I move into that job, he continued. “The focus is on Glasgow. We’ve got ten months of hard work to do there.”
Asked if going on the Scotland tour meant he would not be with the Lions, he added: “Yeah, I would imagine. We’ve still to firm up when the Scotland tour goes ahead.”
The Lions will announce their head coach a fortnight today in Edinburgh, with Gatland, the Wales head coach, widely expected to be given the job again after winning the last series against Australia.
This season’s PRO12 final, meanwhile, will be at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium - the second time the occasion has been taken to a national stadium after Murrayfield was the venue in May. Tickets for the match went on sale yesterday, and, provided at least one Irish team gets through, the league seems sure to beat the record attendance of 34,500 set last year when fans of Connacht and Leinster travelled to Edinburgh.
Meanwhile, the capital club have announced that Stuart McInally and Grant Gilchrist will be joint captains for the coming season, succeeding Mike Coman, who has moved to London Irish. Glasgow announced last week that they will have co-captains, Jonny Gray and Henry Pyrgos.
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