Players blame Williams' role

There appear to be serious thunderclouds gathering around the Murrayfield offices of Scotland coach Matt Williams. The former Leinster coach, who moved to Edinburgh two seasons ago to take up the national job along with forwards coach Willie Anderson, may be soon be out of a job if reports from Scotland are accurate. Johnny Watterson reports

The Scottish Rugby Union's usual review of the Six Nations Championship was ratcheted up a few degrees this season when all of the players were asked to fill in a questionnaire as part of the review process. They were questioned about their preparation for the competition and their thoughts on performance.

Despite asking squad members to keep their thoughts private, leaks of what was written in some of the questionnaires indicate that the players have aggressively articulated their dissatisfaction with Williams, who had repeatedly laid the blame for dismal performances at their door during the championship.

That much was almost admitted when officials responded to a BBC Scotland report on Monday.

Mike Keohane, the SRU's corporate affairs director declined to comment on the accuracy of the claims but did say in Scotland's Herald newspaper yesterday the information had been gathered and that leaks may have occurred. He also said the player's views would be given serious consideration by the SRU.

"It should form a very strong basis on which to make suggestions," Keohane said. "A review of performance is something that has always been done but on this particular occasion every individual involved in the international game and delivery of the Six Nations effort has been invited to contribute.

"It was intended to be a confidential process but with so many people involved, one or two individuals have perhaps been prepared to share with others what has been said and some of that has got out."

Williams record with Scotland can hardly be used in his defence as the side has won only three out of the 17 Test matches under his supervision.

Clive Woodward, through his selection of only three Scottish players for the Lions tour this summer, has also implicitly criticised Scotland's collective and individual performances.

Williams, however, may credibly use that in his own defence in that the Scottish players, individually, simply were not good enough.

"I believe that the gathering of information is pretty much complete, so we are moving into the assessment stage," added Keohane. "People were asked to say what they felt went well, what went badly, how we can improve things and whether there were any other comments. It's apparent that some people have seized the opportunity to have their say."

The SRU yesterday said there is no time limit placed on the interpretation of the information received, although if leaks continue they may very well want to regain control of the process and air the findings.

Either way Williams, who took Leinster to the Heineken European Cup semi-final but disappointingly lost to Perpignan in Lansdowne Road, has repeatedly declared he will not resign under any circumstances, while the SRU have said that they will not take any action until the entire review process has been completed.

The unfolding story is a touch ironic as the Leinster team are currently in the search for a new coach following Declan Kidney's move to Munster.

Williams had come highly recommended to Scotland.

Following the last World Cup, two former Scottish coaches, Jim Telfer and Ian McGeechan, trawled the Southern and Northern Hemispheres in search of someone who could reshape the national side and came up with the affable Australian, who had worked briefly with New South Wales and Ireland A but mainly with Leinster.

"This review process will go on until it needs to," said the SRU yesterday.

"It may be this week. It may be next month."