{"id":1079,"date":"2019-09-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/how-scotland-created-the-right-performance-environment-for-their-rugby-world-cup-campaign\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:29","slug":"scotland-rugby-gregor-townsend","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/scotland-rugby-gregor-townsend\/","title":{"rendered":"How Scotland Created the Right Performance Environment for their Rugby World Cup Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n Sep 20, 2019 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

How Scotland Created the Right Performance Environment for their Rugby World Cup Campaign<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Leadership & Culture<\/a> <\/div>\n
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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/scotland-rugby-gregor-townsend\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n
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Head Coach Gregor Townsend blended structured and informal approaches to maximum effect.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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When Gregor Townsend announced his first squad as Head Coach of the Scotland men\u2019s national team, a full nine months had elapsed since he agreed to take the post.<\/h4>\n
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By John Portch<\/h6>\n

In August 2016, Scottish Rugby announced that Townsend, then enjoying his fifth year as Head Coach of Glasgow Warriors, would be Vern Cotter\u2019s successor.<\/p>\n

The waiting game began for one of the game\u2019s deepest thinkers and it would not be until the following June that Townsend would lead the side on their summer tour, which took in tests against Italy [in Singapore], Australia and Fiji.<\/p>\n

Commendable victories over Italy and Australia saw Scotland show flashes of the fast-paced rugby desired by Townsend, but defeat to Fiji in the final test of the summer illustrated there was still much work to do.<\/p>\n

More than two years on, Townsend has established Scotland\u2019s reputation as one of the most exciting teams on the planet when in full flow and the nation travels to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan with a side very much built in the image of its Head Coach.<\/p>\n

With no opponents whom they should fear, Scotland have an excellent chance of matching their quarter-final appearance at the 2015 tournament.<\/p>\n

And it all started in June 2017, or rather in May of that year, when Townsend announced his 34-man touring squad.<\/p>\n

He discussed the topic onstage at the Leaders Sport Performance Summit in New York in September that year<\/a> and, beyond results, the establishment of a working culture that formed the bedrock of the training camp that led into the tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of our players didn\u2019t make the play-offs for their clubs so it meant they came into our camp quicker,\u201d he tells the audience at the NBPA\u2019s HQ on 6th Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had them for six weeks, which is a great time for us and probably a luxury for us over the next couple of seasons. We were able to put over a lot of the key themes, how we do things, how you grow that culture.\u201d<\/p>\n