Jim Mallinder is excited to help Scotland continue on an upward trajectory after being appointed as the new performance director of Scottish Rugby.
Mallinder has a wealth of experience in the game – having been head coach at Sale Sharks and Northampton Saints – with his most recent job being performance pathway coach at the RFU.
The switch to England’s Guinness Six Nations rivals Scotland will see him replace Scott Johnson – who left for a similar role with Australia back in April.
The 53-year-old will lead Scottish Rugby’s performance department from the newly-created Super6 competition for part-time professional club teams through to the Scotland men’s national team.
His remit will include developing the player pathway through the age-grade and Fosroc Academy structure to feed into Scotland’s two professional teams, Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors, Scotland 7s, Scotland Women and ultimately the Scotland men’s national team.
And it’s a challenge Mallinder cannot wait to get going with.
He said: “This is an exciting role and one that gives me the chance to work with players at different stages of their development, all with the clear objective to make Scotland’s representative teams more successful and deliver a clear pathway for players to progress through.
“I am really impressed with the set-up in Scotland already and having spoken at length with Mark Dodson [Scottish Rugby chief executive] it was clear that this was an outstanding opportunity to really set the direction of travel for Scotland’s high-performance ambitions.
“It’s a chance to lead a long-term programme, work with talented people, and I’m looking forward to moving up to Scotland and getting started.”
And Scottish Rugby chief executive Mark Dodson believe Mallinder’s knowledge of the game can only be a boon to the country.
“I am delighted to have secured Jim in what is a pivotal and vital role within our high-performance structure,” said Dodson.
“He has a proven track record of developing players across a range of different career stages and I want him to strengthen and deepen the pathway our players will take into the professional game and develop the skills and behaviours they will need to succeed at their respective highest levels.
“He brings a wealth of rugby knowledge and experience as a Premiership winning coach and European Cup finalist which I believe can enhance our current set-up and enable us to keep making the ambitious strides we want to take in the coming years.”
