What Gregor Townsend really does at Newcastle: The allies Scotland head coach has installed including new head coach he’ll appoint, 16 players brought in with more on way, the Austria summit and what’s surprised the Red Bulls squad

‘Are you going to be kind to him today?’ asked Scotland’s performance director, David Nucifora, before Gregor Townsend’s press conference.

Nucifora found himself in the middle of a rabble of journalists in the reception of Scotland’s training base at Heriot-Watt University. He knew exactly what was coming as Townsend prepared to face the media ahead of Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash with England. 

As well as dealing with the fall-out of Scotland’s opening round defeat by Italy, Townsend is also facing a public backlash for taking up a role with Red Bull. Some dislike the Scotland coach not having his full, undivided attention on the national side.   

On a good day, it is a sub-two-hour drive from Townsend’s house in the Scottish Borders to Kingston Park, home of PREM club Newcastle Red Bulls. The Scotland coach has made that journey south twice since he signed a consultancy deal with the energy drinks giant in October.

He sat in meetings and spoke to coaches, although Daily Mail Sport understands the players were surprised by his lack of hands-on involvement, asides from the odd one-to-one chat. 

He has overseen the recruitment of 16 new players in 2026 and there are more to come. Sale prop James Harper is on their radar as they rebuild their squad and Leicester No 10 Billy Searle was sounded out unsuccessfully.

Townsend has a 30-day-per-year contract with Red Bull, who took over Newcastle in the summer, and has visited their HQ in Austria in a trip that he believes was beneficial for all parties. Those in the building at Kingston Park do not see Townsend’s dual role as an issue, but north of the border, his Red Bull dalliance is threatening to destabilise Scotland’s Six Nations campaign.

While he has no formal role with the Prem club, he is casting an increasingly large shadow over the place.  Dan McFarland, who worked with Townsend at Glasgow, is expected to be named as head coach. The consensus is that Townsend will work above him as director of rugby when his Scottish contract expires after next year’s World Cup.

Scotland’s highly rated analyst Gavin Vaughan is set to join Newcastle as the club’s head of recruitment after the Six Nations and a number of Townsend’s allies are already in position. Townsend’s former Scotland team-mate Jonny Petrie is already in place as managing director, while his old acquaintance from the Borders, Neil McIlroy was appointed as sporting general manager.

According to sources, McIlroy is the man who has been responsible for the tough job of letting existing Newcastle players know whether or not they will be kept on next season. A major squad overhaul is underway and the likes of Jamie Hodgson and Freddie Clarke have already been told to look for new clubs, while a number of other players are still waiting to find out what their futures might look like.

While Townsend’s duties with Newcastle Red Bull are limited, the optics are not good for Scotland fans, whose response has been to question his commitment to his main job. Sir Clive Woodward in his Daily Mail Sport column said the dual role was a ‘distraction, was ‘daft’ and that the Scotland coach had ‘shot himself in the foot’.

Asked at Thursday’s press conference whether the outside noise around his role with Red Bull was creeping into the camp, Townsend’s response was short and defiant. ‘No,’ he said.

No players have spoken out publicly to express any ill-feelings about the situation. But in an era where players are under instructions not to give out clues about selection, the full-back Blair Kinghorn’s decision to post a photograph of himself on a plane out of Edinburgh Airport on Wednesday – the day before the team was announced without him in it – raised a few eyebrows.

The Lions No 15 was once again left out of the matchday 23, with Townsend instead putting his faith in the contingent of in-form players from Glasgow. Not a single Edinburgh player has been selected in Scotland’s starting XV for the first time since 1998, as the Scots bid to cling onto their five-year unbeaten home run against England.

Asked if he believes he can still get the best out of his squad, which is seen as a golden generation for Scotland, Townsend remained defiant. ‘The last two results against Italy and Argentina have been disappointing,’ he said.

‘It opens up opportunities for criticising the team, criticising the coach. I get that. It’s not good enough from our perspective. We didn’t win those games and we’re hugely disappointed for our supporters. That’s what we’re working to rectify.

‘It’s our biggest game of the season, it always has been. It’s even more important on the back of a defeat, a disappointing defeat. We know our supporters are behind us as they always are and we’ll need their energy at the weekend.’

A victory over the English will dramatically change the mood. Lose and the noise will become deafening. Either way, the Red Bull questions are likely to stalk him for the remainder of his tenure.