Dodson defends Johnson role
Scottish Rugby Union chief executive Mark Dodson is adamant that former interim head coach Scott Johnson was not 'rewarded' with promotion following a dismal RBS 6 Nations campaign.
Australian Johnson led the side to a series of new lows during a desperately disappointing tournament but has now taken on a new role as SRU director of rugby.
The move upstairs has surprised many pundits, particularly after Scotland were one late drop-goal against Italy away from five straight defeats.
They were beaten 20-0 at home by England and thrashed 51-3 by Wales after Stuart Hogg was sent off early on.
However, Dodson has dismissed criticism of Johnson, saying that the 51-year-old bravely shouldered the responsibility of laying the groundwork for his successor Vern Cotter.
Cotter will not take up his new role until his deal with Clermont ends in the summer despite being appointed last May.
"We need clarity on this issue," Dodson said.
"We appointed Scott to be director of rugby first. Then we got Vern Cotter as head coach. We knew we would have to wait for Vern as he wanted to finish the job he started at Clermont.
"We asked Scott to stand in during the interim. He had no ambition to do that but we asked him. He was happy to do it on one proviso, and that was to bring on Scottish players in larger numbers.
"In the period he's been in charge, he has capped 17 new players, so we have a squad that is richer and deeper than ever.
"But as for the backlash about Scott being promoted, I'd say that he was never 'promoted' - he already had the job. Now he's going back to that job to develop the plans we have got to develop the next generation of new talent, which is his specialism.
"We always knew there would be a problem with the 14-month period but Scott did what we asked him to do and he delivered what we asked him to deliver."
During Johnson's time at the helm, Scotland won just five of 16 games, the Welsh hammering was their heaviest ever Six Nations defeat and the Calcutta Cup defeat saw them fail to score a point against England for the first time in 36 years.
It is no surprise that Dodson is extremely hopeful that Cotter is worth the wait.
"Time will tell but our view is yes, he will be," he said.
"Having looked at the people available at that time, we believe Vern was the right man for us. We haven't heard anyone say we have got it wrong."
There was little shortage of former internationals with plenty of criticism for Johnson and his team following the defeat to England and Dodson admits it was merited, adding:
"The performance against England was what caused us problems. We did not compete against them in a Calcutta Cup match here at Murrayfield. It can't get much worse.
"That was unacceptable to us but it was also unacceptable to the coaching team and the players.
"People have every right to vent, and the fact that they have strong feelings is a good thing because if they didn't care, we'd really be in trouble. But we are taking those views on board and trying to change things so we don't have that kind of performance in future."
