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International

Scottish Rugby CEO Alex Williamson takes period of extended leave

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - MARCH 7: The crowd watch a scrum during the Guinness Six Nations 2026 match between Scotland and France at Scottish Gas Murrayfield on March 7, 2026 (Photo by Malcolm Mackenzie/Getty Images)
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Scottish Rugby chief executive Alex Williamson has taken a period of extended leave, the organisation has confirmed.

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Williamson, who was appointed in September 2024 with a mission to address significant financial losses, has taken time out and his duties have been taken up by other members within the organisation.

A spokesman for Scottish Rugby said: “Our chief executive Alex Williamson is currently on a period of extended leave, during which time his duties are being shared by the executive team.”

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Williamson’s absence comes at a time when the organisation is attempting to build on the success of the men’s national team, which finished third in this year’s Six Nations Championship with victories over England, Wales and France.

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Comments on RugbyPass

B
Boddasaffa 4 minutes ago
Why the Springboks' rush defence won't bother the All Blacks

Thanks Ben, not your usual hate speech but some good points, yes the AB’s are playing some good rugby and look like something of old, is that going to be the problem. Most teams have evolved where you guys are finding your old style. The Boks might have a rush defence but it has evolved to adapt, no one is taking into account that the line breaks were mostly nullified by the cover defence and the amount of changes by RE could have contributed to these lapses. What we all hope is a great contest and the best team wins not based on TMO or reffing decisions.

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Q
Quincy79 6 minutes ago
Contest or no contest? The eternal struggle between the Springboks and All Blacks

"Ah yes... the classic 'I have a statistic, therefore I have the truth.' If rugby were that simple, we'd replace coaches with Excel and referees with calculators."

501 Go to comments
Q
Quincy79 8 minutes ago
Contest or no contest? The eternal struggle between the Springboks and All Blacks

"Interesting. Every international scrum coach is chasing penalties, every front row trains for them, every captain chooses scrums to force them... but apparently they've all misunderstood the purpose of the scrum. Good thing you've finally cleared it up for everyone."

501 Go to comments
N
NB 8 minutes ago
Contest or no contest? The eternal struggle between the Springboks and All Blacks

If you believe the stats are flawed, let’s hear some of your own.

Oh wait… you don’t have any!



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501 Go to comments
N
NB 10 minutes ago
Contest or no contest? The eternal struggle between the Springboks and All Blacks

Why not do it yourself?

Having not produced one single shred of evidence for any of your claims you’re about due I’d say.😉



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501 Go to comments
Q
Quincy79 10 minutes ago
Contest or no contest? The eternal struggle between the Springboks and All Blacks

So after 150 years of front rows trying to win penalties, we've finally discovered they were all doing rugby wrong? That's quite the revelation.

If scrum dominance alone was enough, teams would've stopped pushing for penalties decades ago. The reality is simple: real dominance forces errors, and errors have always been penalised. Removing that consequence doesn't restore rugby—it removes accountability.



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501 Go to comments
N
NB 13 minutes ago
Contest or no contest? The eternal struggle between the Springboks and All Blacks

Words words words Q. ‘Dominance’ - you think you know what it is? You don’t. Ask refs, ask Carlos. The man you told his job should be more difficult, not less 😉

My solution is to encourage teams to use the ball more from scrums. If a scrum is in retreat or peels away to the side, you have front-foot ball and and an open field to attack, with the opposing back row out of the game and only six or seven backs defending the entire width of the field.



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501 Go to comments
Q
Quincy79 21 minutes ago
Contest or no contest? The eternal struggle between the Springboks and All Blacks

"Stop drinking the Kool-Aid and accept the stats" would land a lot harder if you weren't repeatedly confusing data with proof. Statistics are evidence, not verdicts. The moment you think numbers can't be interpreted differently, you've stopped analysing and started preaching.

501 Go to comments
T
Two Cents 23 minutes ago
Joe Schmidt leaves the Wallabies in a far better place - but key questions loom

One of the things that shows how different Hooper is from virtually everyone else that has played there over the last 4 years was the Lions tour match in Canberra where Tom got himself an early shower in 78th minute and when asked about it he just honestly stated, “I was done. I had the shits so it's time to go off.”

While a piece of ill discipline like that particularly at the death of a game can be a coach killer, it speaks volumes about the mentality of a player that they can do that and feel completely justified in themselves and not feel the need to excuse it away.



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Quincy79 24 minutes ago
Contest or no contest? The eternal struggle between the Springboks and All Blacks

It's ironic—you say you love scrums, yet your solution is to reduce the consequences of losing one. That's like saying you love the breakdown, so turnovers should count less. The contest only matters if dominance has a meaningful reward. Otherwise it's just theatre.

501 Go to comments
Q
Quincy79 27 minutes ago
Contest or no contest? The eternal struggle between the Springboks and All Blacks

Congratulations, you've found one of the greatest tightheads of the professional era. Now do the same exercise for the last 20 years and count how many world-class tightheads each country has consistently produced. I'll wait. 😉

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Lou Cifer 28 minutes ago
'Boks will come with the same game plan': Schalk Burger predicts Wellington repeat for All Blacks

I tend to agree. I wanna see NZ defeat France’s best team in Paris first before I call any resurgence.

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R
Rugby3 30 minutes ago
Contest or no contest? The eternal struggle between the Springboks and All Blacks

Rennie will struggle without Henry, like he struggled without Wayne Smith at the Chiefs. They’d better put Henry on life support watch.

501 Go to comments
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Lou Cifer 31 minutes ago
'Boks will come with the same game plan': Schalk Burger predicts Wellington repeat for All Blacks

Jordan hasn’t been that excellent of late at all….Moorby is yet to face the Boks pressure game too. DMac has been found wanting in that aspect on a few occasions when facing the Boks recently. I like the look of Moorby, really exciting player. Let the games begin!

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NoLongerARuck 32 minutes ago
Joe Schmidt leaves Les Kiss a Wallabies team on the rise

When he Joined they were ranked 9th, now they are ranked 8th. Hardly any kind of upward trajectory there.

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Rugby3 33 minutes ago
Contest or no contest? The eternal struggle between the Springboks and All Blacks

He did improve on Foster that is true but that may not have been that hard. Foster was hardly inspiring and limited tactician.

I’m blowed If I can see any great improvement in the Wallabies. Prior to Italy, Schmidt’s record was even worse than Eddie Jones’ 9 games. The Wallabies are still running round like headless chooks. I pray Kiss has got the guts to move JAS and restore Ikitau to 13 and bring back LSL at the very least. The Wallabies will improve 15% straight away. The passion will be restored too. This makes a quantum difference to Australian teams when they know they are playing for their country, not just a dinosaur mercenary. That’s why so many people are terrified of the Wallabies finding their mojo with an Australian coach.



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Quincy79 34 minutes ago
Contest or no contest? The eternal struggle between the Springboks and All Blacks

You keep treating every scrum penalty as referee invention instead of accepting the uncomfortable possibility that one pack is simply better than the other. At some point it stops being a flaw in the laws and starts becoming a flaw in the analysis. That's probably why the world's best scrum coaches still spend countless hours perfecting something you've concluded isn't a contest.

501 Go to comments
P
PB 36 minutes ago
The U20 Junior World Championship - Team of the tournament

There’s nothing more snowflaky than guys who feel attacked by opinions - that reminds me of the meme with a crying child playing a guitar with the inscription « Everything I hate is woke ».

I don’t agree with the selection in most parts, yet I don’t need to put forward that kind of fragility - I just don’t agree.



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L
Lou Cifer 37 minutes ago
The U20 Junior World Championship - Team of the tournament

bloody laughable!

16 Go to comments
T
Two Cents 38 minutes ago
Wallabies' game-by-game review for Nations Championship July series

You asked John but I think I can offer some useful suggestions.

Daugunu has the skill, the engine and the impact to become a high quality centre. He just needs to be backed in there at 12 if that's how they choose to go. I'd fancy him a good bench option there going forwards.



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