Sorry Gregor, juggling two jobs belittles the position of Scotland head coach

AHH. Now it all makes sense. Now we know why Gregor Townsend wasn’t put up for interview a few weeks ago when it was announced that he had signed a new contract to remain as Scotland head coach.

At a time when he was holding talks with Red Bull and Newcastle, and knowing full well that he would be asked about it given the links had been ongoing for months, it would all have been terribly awkward...

But is it any less awkward now it’s all been confirmed? Rather than leaving his Scotland post to take a coaching position at Newcastle, are there any positives to be found in this weird halfway house of a consultancy role?

Well, no. If anything, this is even worse. For the head coach to formally accept a position with another employer, it makes Scottish Rugby look like some kind of tinpot, two-bit operation.

Ask yourself a very simple question. What benefit is to be gained from Townsend being on the Red Bull payroll and spending 30 days a year exploring how to improve their rugby operations?

Is that going to help Scotland win more matches? In the here and now, will it enhance our chances of success in the Six Nations and the next World Cup?

That’s the main remit for Townsend’s job, the two main parameters by which he is judged. Does this link-up with Red Bull help him meet those objectives? Nope.

Is it going to help the development of young players throughout the country? Will it improve the much-maligned pathway system? Again, nope.

So, what’s the point of all this? What possible benefit can there be to the prospects of the Scottish national rugby team if our head coach is not fully focused and fully committed to the task at hand.

Townsend will, of course, dispute all of this. Whenever he can actually be bothered to front-up and face questions about it, he will insist his new role with Red Bull won’t affect the day job with Scotland.

But the whole thing makes a mockery of his position as Scotland’s head coach, it belittles the role and leaves the distinct impression that he is eyeing up a move elsewhere.

For what it’s worth, sources at the SRU are confident he will honour his contract through until the next World Cup in 2027.

But that misses the point. Why is he even being allowed to do this in the first place?

The SRU were keen to stress that Townsend will work for Red Bull, rather than Newcastle. Perhaps someone should point out to them that Newcastle are the one and only club in the Red Bull rugby portfolio.

They were also at pains to emphasise that Townsend will tap into the knowledge of the global Red Bull sporting empire and bring that knowledge back to Scottish Rugby. But that’s just PR nonsense.

What’s he going to do? Join Max Verstappen for a few laps at Silverstone? Study analytics on tyre pressures and aerodynamics, with a view to how it could help Duhan van der Merwe score more tries?

Listen, Townsend is no stranger to thinking outside the box. In the past, he has hooked up with the likes of Pep Guardiola and Roberto Martinez.

He is a keen observer of other sports and regularly tries to broaden his horizons in terms of adapting other ideas into his own methods and coaching.

That’s all fine. Those visits to join Guardiola and Martinez were things he did in his own spare time. Tapping into the minds of two excellent coaches in another field was always bound to be beneficial.

But to formally accept a position with another employer? Offering them your expertise when the day job demands your full focus to be on the betterment of Scottish Rugby? That’s a whole different thing.

In his new role, Townsend will advise on strategic matters, sporting culture, and the creation of a high-performance environment.

If you were being cynical, you might look at it as him laying the foundations and getting a foot in the door for such times as when Red Bull want him as the Newcastle head coach rather than merely as a consultant.

The SRU made it clear yesterday that all of this has happened with their full knowledge and consent. Townsend has been very transparent and SRU chief executive Alex Williamson has given it his blessing.

Just as they gave performance director David Nucifora their full blessing to base himself in Australia despite his job remit focusing on improving the pathway system for young players in Scottish club rugby.

All of which only strengthens the feeling that Williamson is hopelessly out of his depth and out of touch with the wider feeling among supporters.

Seemingly out of nowhere, it was Williamson who broke cover in the summer to explain how wonderful it would be if Townsend was to renew his contract. It was fanboy stuff.

Williamson has been drinking bottles of the Townsend Kool-Aid left behind by his predecessor Mark Dodson. Gallons of the stuff.

Under Townsend, Scotland have regressed over the past couple of years. In the past two Six Nations campaigns, Scotland have won only four of their ten matches. They have finished fourth on both occasions.

He is Scotland’s longest-serving head coach across one stint, having been in the job for eight-and-a-half years, yet also our only head coach to preside over two failed World Cups and pool-stage exits.

How do you square those two things? How can one man hold such power and influence within an organisation when he is failing to fulfil the most fundamental remit of his job?

The answer is quite simple. There is nobody within the SRU who actually has the bottle or strength of character to keep Townsend in check.

If he was so keen to pursue an opportunity with Red Bull, the SRU should have shook his hand last month and agreed to go their separate ways. It should have been a simple case of picking one or the other.

Not to mention the fact he was extremely fortunate to even be offered an extension in the first place. As soon as the SRU got wind of him holding talks about other jobs, they should have sat him down and told him to make a decision.

It’s not unreasonable to feel that Scotland’s head coach should be fully focused on improving the fortunes of our national team, rather than having a side interest elsewhere.

But Townsend calls the shots. The SRU dance to his tune. There is absolutely no accountability whatsoever and no desire to hold people to higher standards. Townsend is the most powerful man in Murrayfield, bar none.

All this achieves is to create more noise and distraction around the national team. It’s another sideshow that doesn’t paint anyone in a particularly good light.

When it was announced a few years ago that Eddie Jones had taken on a new consultancy role with a club side in Japan whilst still being in charge of England, Sir Clive Woodward was scathing in his verdict.

Writing in his Daily Mail Sport column, Woodward said: ‘This makes English rugby look ridiculous and makes you question once again what exactly is going on.

‘I am one of the very few people who is qualified to state, categorically, that if you are going to coach England in the professional era, you can afford absolutely zero distractions - and I mean zero.

‘Everything has to take second place. In anyone’s language, this is just a really bad look.’

Just as those words were absolutely spot-on about Jones and the RFU, they would also be bang on the money about Townsend and the SRU.