Williams seeks Scottish rugby overhaul

New Scotland rugby coach Matt Williams has demanded that all his players should be based in Scotland.

New Scotland rugby coach Matt Williams has demanded that all his players should be based in Scotland.

Australian-born Williams, head coach at Leinster before moving to Murrayfield, believes that this is the only way forward for Scotland.

"Scottish players must be based in Scotland if they are to play for their country," emphasised Williams. "Crucially the captain must be based in Scotland. If you look at England, Australia, New Zealand and France, all their players were home based.

"Ireland have only two of their side playing outside the country. South Africa, on the other hand have very few of their players and they did not perform well.

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"If players are not here we don't have control over them. We have to have control over our own players."

As part of the same policy Williams wants to limit the number of overseas players in each of Scotland's two professional clubs, the hope being that established national team players can be attracted back north of the border.

"This would allow our professional teams to perform better in the major competitions," suggested Williams. "The Irish provinces have done well in the Celtic League and in Europe."

Williams, who is assisted by former New Zealand skipper Todd Blackadder, confirmed that former Scotland captain Andy Nicol has been drafted into his coaching team as specialist scrum half adviser along with George Graham who will work on set pieces.

There is, however, no role for Alan Tait, who was defence coach in the Ian McGeechan era.

"I think that Alan has outgrown the defence coach role. He would be better looking for a full time coaching job," said Williams. Another high profile figure to bow out of Scottish rugby is the record capped Gregor Townsend as Williams looks to bring younger players into the side.

Williams has named 14 uncapped players for his first training squad, including Newcastle-based centre Phil Godman, and The Borders scrum half Chris Cusiter, both of whom are seen as likely prospects for Scotland's Six Nations squad.