Players at Scotland’s two professional teams are going back to the classroom in a project designed to enhance their rugby knowledge and enable them to put something back into the club game.

Working with Scottish Rugby’s coach education department, many of the players at Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors are signed up to go through a coaching course.

Those who complete successfully the UKCC Level 1 course will demonstrate their ability to

• Plan a training session
• Assess risk
• Deliver a training session through key coaching skills including explanation; demonstration; observation and analysis; and provision of feedback and
• Coach, in a safe and technically correct manner, evasion; handling; kicking; side and front tackling; five-man scrum; throw-in and jump at a lineout; and best options in contact.

Graham Lindsay, Scottish Rugby’s Coach Development Officer, said: “Many of our professional players are already coaching at various levels in the game and it’s vitally important as a Coach Education department that we endeavour to help them develop their coaching skills to the best they can.

“It’s also best practice to ensure that current and future coaches are suitably qualified and deliver enjoyable sessions in a safe manner.

“These players already have a strong technical and tactical knowledge and the UKCC programme is the ideal way to allow them to improve and hone their delivery skills and be more aware of their role as a coach.”

The coaching course is already underway with Edinburgh players, including Scotland captain Mike Blair and fellow internationalists, Hugo Southwell, Gavin Kerr, Craig Hamilton, Allister Hogg, Geoff Cross and Roland Reid.

Scotland 7s internationalist, John Houston, who is already first XV backs coach at Scottish Hydro Electric Premier Division 1 club, Heriot’s, in his free time, said: “As professional players we receive some of the best coaching around and, clearly, that’s greatly to our benefit as individuals.

“But should we want to pass on some of our experience it’s important that we can do so with the backing of the necessary formal qualifications so, from that perspective, doing the coaching courses is good for us as players, good for Edinburgh and, potentially beneficial to the club game too.”

A similar course will be held in Glasgow before the end of the season and, already, Scotland internationalists Alastair Kellock, Dougie Hall, Johnnie Beattie and Dan Parks have signed up to attend.  The plan is to run a UKCC Level 2 course for players at both professional teams in due course.

Alastair Kellock said: “We all enjoy the bits of coaching we get to do around Glasgow and, hopefully, this course will mean the kids we work with will get even more out of it.

“As well as what we do now there’s always the possibility that we might want to coach when we finish playing and this is the first step to being able to coach at a senior level.

“I think it’s great that we’re getting the chance to do this and I’m really looking forward to getting started.”

For further information on coaching courses planned in your area please contact Jennifer Dailly in Scottish Rugby’s coach education department.  She can be reached by phone on 0131 346 5167 or by email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Our picture shows Edinburgh's John Houston coaching under the watchful eye of Scottish Rugby's Graham Lindsay.