Williams 'humbled' by Scotland job

Australian Matt Williams is relishing the prospect of coaching Scotland after being named as the national side’s new coach yesterday.

Former Leinster coach Williams will take over from Ian McGeechan after the World Cup in the autumn and admitted he was “humbled” to accept the appointment.

The Scottish Rugby Union announced Williams’ appointment from Durban, where the side are preparing for a two-Test series against South Africa.

Williams, who will become the first non-Scotsman to take on the role, said: “It is a great honour to be given the job and I am humbled to be chosen as the coach of this great side.

“I have a great responsibility but the structures are there and I am certain we will do well,” he said.

Williams added that he will “stay in the background” in the lead-up to the World Cup but will offer some input for current coach McGeechan.

He has signed a contract to lead Scotland to the next World Cup in 2007 and believes the job will take him to the next level after three years as head coach at Leinster.

He added: “I realised that I couldn’t really go any higher at club level.

“I have coached the Waratahs against international teams, including Canada, Scotland and Ireland and when I took over at Leinster they were 38th in Europe.

“This year they are third and narrowly lost to Perpignan in the Heineken Cup semi-finals.

“The IRFU and Leinster were very helpful when I told them I had the offer and we came to an agreement almost immediately.”

Williams, who was never anything more than a club player during his playing days, said the fact that he never played representative rugby helped him a great deal as a coach.

“I was an average player but that was the perfect motivation to do well at coaching. It helped me a great deal in my career.”

McGeechan said in turn that he was very happy Williams was appointed and believed it could only be a good thing for Scottish rugby.

“It’s very exciting,” said McGeechan, who will take over as director of coaching from Jim Telfer after the World Cup. “He is a good coach and the way the game is evolving, he can take them a long way.”

Telfer added: “We conducted a worldwide search and came up with Matt, who is an outstanding coaching talent.

“I am sure he will prove an excellent custodian of all the values of the Scottish team and bring plenty of motivation and innovative ideas into the team to take them to new heights.”

Williams said he will be moving to Edinburgh shortly with this family.