John Dalziel: Ten things you should know about the Scotland forwards coach

John Dalziel joined the Scotland coaching team in 2020 and here are more details on his background.

Ten things you should know about John Dalziel

1. John Dalziel began in rugby as a player – he played in the back row – and he competed for Gala, London Scottish, Border Reivers and Melrose.

2. He began coaching at Melrose and then Scotland U20, London Scottish, Scotland Sevens, Glasgow Warriors and Scotland.

3. Dalziel led Melrose to three Scottish Premiership titles.

4. As Scotland U20 coach, he guided the team to a best-ever finish of fifth at the U20 World Championship in 2017. That side contained future senior internationals Darcy Graham, Blair Kinghorn and Matt Fagerson.

5. Gregor Townsend was thrilled to welcome Dalziel to his back-room team as forwards coach in August 2020. He said: “I’m delighted to welcome John into the national team coaching group. He has been impressive in every coaching challenge he’s had since retiring from playing, most recently with Glasgow Warriors.”

6. Dalziel said he was blown away by his appointment: “It’s an honour to be asked to join the Scotland coaching team under Gregor. Hoping to add value to what is already an experienced coaching group.

“I am looking forward to working with such an exciting and talented squad of players, many of whom I have worked with during my time with the U20, sevens and Glasgow Warriors set-ups. I hope to be able to contribute to any future success we have.”

7. He likes to play golf.

8. He was part of the coaching team during the 2021 Six Nations when Scotland beat England at Twickenham for the first time since 1983 and France in Paris for the first time since 1999.

9. He has said no one in the Scotland team is safe in their position, saying: “As coaches, we’re blessed to have the group we’ve got just now. There’s a lot of good work going on in terms of bringing age-grade players through and we’re able to keep building on that.

“Good players are bouncing off each other, seeing that if one player goes to the next level, we’ve got more players trying to push beyond that. Nobody is comfortable in any position. We’ve got real quality players missing out on selection.”

10. He supports Manchester United.

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