Williams defends decision to change captaincy

Scotland coach Matt Williams denied relieving Chris Paterson of the captaincy was due to the recent RBS 6 Nations Championship whitewash – and insisted the Edinburgh player had benefited from his spell as skipper.

The Scots lost all five of their games in the championship under the leadership of the 26-year-old Edinburgh player.

And when Williams announced his squad for the summer Tour to Australia and New Zealand he named Scott Murray, winner of the Famous Grouse player of the season award for the third time, as his new skipper.

But the Scotland coach claims the change of his on-field leader was part of a longer term policy.

He said: “Scott’s form has been outstanding. He’s had experience of being captain in the past and I feel he has matured this year.

“Leadership and captaincy is a skill that has to be practised and we intend to give our players the opportunity to move that skill forward so that when we hit the next World Cup we have a number of experienced leaders and captains in our team – and Scott is certainly shown he is up to that task.

“It should be in no way interpreted as a slight on Chris Paterson who did a very good job in difficult circumstances during the Six Nations Championships when we were losing games.

“As I said to Chris at the beginning, he was going to be captain for the Six Nations and we would be changing for the Tour and he remains an integral part of our team.

“I think being the captain of your country entails enormous pressure and it’s good to free Chris up at this stage.

“I think he will be a much better leader for the experience and he may well be the captain of the country again.

“But the plan was always to keep him captain for just that period.”

Murray, who at 28 is one of the most experienced players in the Scotland squad, was delighted to accept the skipper’s armband but agreed with Williams’ policy of sharing the leadership role around in the lead-up to the next World Cup.

He said: “I’m glad Matt has put the pressure on me by making me captain.

“It’s a massive accolade and hopefully I can repay it by playing well and helping other players to play well.

“I’m not going to do anything I don’t usually do. It might mean a little more work with the media but I’m not going to change.

“We’re looking towards the World Cup and we’re going to have at least five or six guys who can be captains on the pitch whether they’ve got the armband or not.

“Matt has said I’ll captain the tour and then someone will have it after that and I’m happy with that.

"And if he asks me to do it again, I’d love to.”