CYCLE OF FAILURE: Murrayfield set-up and underperforming staff to blame for the dearth of new talent in Scottish rugby, insists Cockerill

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FORMER Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill believes a culture of failure within Scottish Rugby has led to the lack of young players being produced for the national team.

Scottish Rugby’s academy and pathway system has been widely criticised over the past few years for the lack of young homegrown players breaking through.

Scotland’s Under-20s were relegated from the top tier of the Junior World Championship after losing to Fiji in 2019 — and failed to win promotion last year after a lamentable defeat to Uruguay.

Scottish Rugby performance director Jim Mallinder is to step down from his role at the end of the season, with the governing body yet to name a successor.

Cockerill, who spent four years in charge of Edinburgh between 2017 and 2021, insists the lack of accountability within the Murrayfield set-up has been a major factor in the lack of young players coming through.

‘A lot of the young players in Scotland just physically aren’t capable,’ said the Englishman, who is now head coach of Georgia and their domestic team Black Lion.

‘When I arrived in Edinburgh in 2017, I felt a lot of our players in the youth system were physically underdeveloped.

Richard Cockerill is back in Scotland with Georgian club side Black Lion to take on a Glasgow and Edinburgh select

Scotland co-captain Finn Russell and team-mates reflect on their Six Nations defeat to Ireland

‘The people who were in charge of those programmes back in 2017, who I didn’t believe were good enough, are still there now.

‘How can you change anything if nothing ever changes? That’s the reality.

‘The biggest thing I think about the Union (Scottish Rugby) is, if you’re not very good at your job, you don’t leave. They’ll just move you somewhere else.’

Cockerill has been in Scotland this week and will coach a Black Lion side against a combined Edinburgh-Glasgow A team behind closed doors this afternoon. His move to Georgia came after he was sacked unceremoniously by Montpellier back in November, just seven games into the season.

Whilst French rugby might be brutally ruthless with hiring and firing, Cockerill cited a lack of change in key positions within Scottish Rugby.

‘I coached seven games in Montpellier. I won one of them and got the sack,’ he continued. ‘Scotland got relegated from the Under-20s World Cup.

‘They lost to Uruguay. Are you telling me Uruguay have a better youth system than Scotland?

‘If you don’t change anything, nothing will change. If the same people are kept in place, running the same programme that clearly isn’t producing results, why will anything change?

Scotland scrum-half Ben White is shell-shocked at the end of a painful defeat to France in this year's Six Nations

Cockerill was a no-nonsense figure as a player and a coach, and often spoke with refreshing candour during his time at Edinburgh

‘I joined Edinburgh in 2017 and the two best tightheads were Zander Fagerson and WP Nel. That’s still the case now seven years later.

‘Where’s the next young kid? That’s a concern. Italy are getting stronger and Georgia are getting stronger, I’ll make sure of that.

‘When this generation of Scotland players slowly starts to fall off the edge of the cliff, who’s going to take over?’

Returning to Edinburgh, Cockerill (left) added: ‘It’s good to be back here. What Edinburgh have now is what they’ve wanted for a long time — their own stadium and they sell it out.

‘They are a good side who play good rugby. Hopefully, they’ll be in the play-offs come the end of the season.

‘A lot of the Edinburgh boys in the national team with Scotland, I helped them initially and coached them. I’ve got fond memories.’